Real Monsters
by Peyton16
Summary: Starts in season one. When Derek gets back into town, someone from his past is back in his life.
1. Rumors

Chapter 1

Rumors

"Can I sit here?"

Riley heard someone ask.

She looked up at the new girl who just started at Beacon Hills High.

"I don't see why not," Riley smiled.

The girl sat down and offered her hand to her, "Hi, my name is Allison."

She took the offered hand, "Riley."

"Do you always sit here alone?" Allison asked.

"I guess. I haven't really noticed. It's just always been this way…How do you like it here?" Riley asked trying to change the subject.

"It's just like any other high school across America," she said.

"Where are you from?"

"My last school was in San Diageo. My family moves around a lot," she said, "What grade are you in?"

"I'm a senior. Can't wait until I'm out of here. You?"

"Sophomore."

"You still have a few years left. I don't think that I feel sorry for you," Riley said.

"Allison!" Lydia said coming up to the table, "I thought I told you that you could sit with me at lunch," she said while looking at Riley.

"I couldn't find you," Allison said.

"No worries, I found you. Let's go!" Lydia said as she dragged Allison away from the table Riley was sitting at.

"It was nice meeting you," Allison called to Riley.

"You shouldn't talk to her," Lydia said once they were out of ear shot.

"Why?"

"She's not stable. And she's weird. Always wearing sweaters," Lydia said.

"Well, maybe she's always cold," Allison as she sat down at Lydia's table.

Jackson was already there waiting for them.

"Who are we talking about?" he asked.

"Riley," Lydia said almost disgusted.

"Oh, her," he said, "She's weird."

"That's what I said," Lydia said.

"Have you given the chance to get to know her?" Allison asked, "She seemed nice."

"She doesn't have any friends. I don't think she is nice…I hear she's deformed in some way," Lydia whispered the last part.

"I heard that too," Jackson said while looking at Riley from across the lunch room, "Ben told me that for someone who is deformed, she has a hot body," he said.

Lydia hit him, "She does not. And when did Ben see her naked?"

"He walked in on her while she was in the changing room at Macy's," he smiled, "He said that he was able to work off of her image for a while he played with himself."

"You're disgusting," Lydia cried.

Allison agreed.

"Don't worry babe, I don't need an image of another girl. I have you," Jackson said and then kissed her.

Lydia looked happy with herself.

"I heard that she was hospitalized for a mental break down a few years ago. That's why she's a super senior. She missed a whole year of school," Lydia continued, "That's why I think that you should stay away from her," she said to Allison.

"I think all your information is just rumors. You shouldn't believe them," Allison said.

"Suit yourself if it hurts your image, I warned you," Lydia said.

Allison looked over at Riley. She felt bad for her.

XXX

It was after school and Riley was at her place of employment, the only animal hospital in town.

"Scott, can you give me a hand with Dex?" Riley called.

She was having trouble putting the over large dog in his cage.

Scott McCall came running to the back where they keep the cages.

"He's been really worked up," she said.

Scott took the leash from her. Dex, the dog, put his tail in between his legs and backed up into the cage with no problem.

"That's weird, thanks," she said as she looked the cage.

"No problem. That's really out of character even for him," Scott said.

"Maybe it's the full moon coming up. All canines sense it," she said walking away.

"Yeah I guess," Scott said trying to catch up to Riley, "Can I ask you something?"

She stopped and looked at him, "Yeah."

"Are there…any wolves in California?"

She laughed, "No, not for a long time. Why?"

"Nothing…I thought I saw one last night in the woods. Can I ask you something else?" he asked.

"If you make it quick."

"Can you help me change my bandage?" he pointed to his side.

She looked at him questioningly.

"When I was in the woods last night…something bit me. I thought it might have been a wolf."

"That's your problem. Maybe you shouldn't be in the woods at night. You could get attacked by anything. Yeah, I'll take a look at it. Let me just get some bandages," she said.

She came back with a first aid kit.

"Where is it?" she asked as he took a seat on one of the tables.

Scott lifted up his shirt.

Riley could see the old bandage and the dried blood.

She removed the bandaged and sighed at what she saw.

"Is it that bad?" Scott asked while he tried to look at it.

"No, actually, the opposite. I don't see anything," she said while she touched his side, "Were you high when you were in the woods last night?"

Scott looked at himself and saw that there wasn't a scratch on him.

"I hope this isn't what you guys do when I'm not in. Play doctor, that is," Dr. Deaton said.

Scott put his shirt down and jumped off the table.

"Get back to work. Play doctor on your own time," Deaton said as he left to go to his office.

"I need the cages cleaned out," Riley said.

"Then why don't you do it," Scott said.

She laughed, "Oh it doesn't work that way. I've been working here longer that you have. I have seniority, which means you have to do as I say."

"I thought Dr. Deaton was our boss."

"He is. But you still have to do as I say. It's how it works. Rachel did the same thing to me when she worked here. When I'm long gone, and there is a new person, you get to do the same thing. So…the cages need cleaned," Riley said as she walked away.

Scott rolled his eyes.

Forty-five minutes later, Riley went to check on Scott's progress.

"This would go a lot faster if you decided to help. I would have helped if you asked me to," Scott said irritated.

They were outside in the back of the building.

"I just came to tell you, what a nice job you were doing and that I'll see you tomorrow. I have a Bio test to study for," she said.

"No you don't," Scott said and then he sprayed her with the hose, "Oops."

She couldn't believe that just happened, "I can't believe you just did that. I was just about to tell you that Deaton gave the night off to the both of us. You could finish tomorrow," she whipped her face of water.

Scott looked guilty, "I'm sorry. I have an extra shirt you could wear," he said.

"Oh no, that's okay. I have extra clothes in my locker," she slammed the back door behind her.

Riley was in the employee closet changing her sweater to a dry t-shirt she kept in her locker.

She didn't see that Scott and come back in after putting the cages away.

She didn't think to close the door behind her all the way.

He didn't think Riley was still in the closet, he stopped in between the door and the wall.

Riley heard the door creek; she turned to look at him.

She saw him looking at her scares on her back and shoulder. She turned completely away from him as she finished changing.

"Sorry," Scott said and closed the door.

He stood there trying to understand what he just saw.

Riley opened the door again and walked out, "I'll see you tomorrow," she said about to leave.

"Does it bother you? What the kids say about you at school?" he asked.

She stopped, "No not really."

"But they say…"

She turned to look at him. A little scare tissue was showing because of her short sleeve shirt.

"I know what they say. None of it is true, Scott. You really shouldn't believe in rumors," she said sadly.

"Can I ask, what actually happened?" he asked.

"I doesn't matter. It happened a long time ago…Can you lock up?"

"Yeah. I have a few things to do before I leave," he said.

"Thanks," she smiled at left to go home for the night.


	2. The Flame

Chapter 2

The Flame

As soon as Riley got home that night she got something to eat before she started to study for her test she had the next day.

She felled asleep while she was studying.

She dreamed the same dream she has been having for years. Its more than a dream, actually, it's more like a nightmare.

In her nightmare, she could feel the heat from the fire on her skin. She could smell her flesh burning. She heard the same screams; the screams that were crying out for help and crying out in pain. She could feel the weight of the flames keeping her pinned down to the floor. She couldn't escape. She started to scream.

She woke up with a start. Her breathing was heavy.

She signed and rolled over to her back on the bed.

She stared up at the ceiling for the longest time; until something caught her eye outside her bedroom window.

She turned to look and whatever it could have been was gone.

She got up to shut her window before she went back to studying for her Bio test.

XXX

It was normal for Riley to be late to school. Why would this morning be any different?

She parked her car in two parking spots, not even bothering to fix it. That's how late she was to school.

She walked into the school just as the bell rang, signaling the start of first period.

She started to walk to the office to get a pass for first period.

She walked into someone; causing her to drop her books.

She bent down to get them. So did the person she walked into.

"Sorry," she said.

"It's okay," the guy said.

He handed her Bio book to her. She took it and looked up at him.

"Thanks," she said.

She got up to walk away but something stopped her.

The guy stood up as well and looked at Riley in the eyes.

She knew him.

How could see ever forget him.

"Derek?"

He looked at her confused as he breathed in deeply.

"I know it's been awhile, but it's Riley," she said.

The name registered.

"Riley Goodwin?" he asked.

"Yeah," she said almost embarrassed.

She looked down.

"You've grown up," Derek said.

She looked at him again. She looked him up and down.

"The same could be said about you."

He looked behind him, "I have to go."

"Of course. You have places to be," she looked behind her because she remembered she was supposed to be somewhere, "I'm late for class," she said but Derek was no longer there.

She continued to walk to the office to get a pass.

"That was weird," she whispered.


	3. Meeting Again

Chapter 3

Meeting Again

Throughout the entire day, Riley couldn't stop thinking about her encounter with Derek Hale. She hadn't seen him in six years.

She thought that he had gotten taller, and if at all possible, he had gotten cuter since the last time she saw him.

His eyes are so intense. It almost scared her how intense there were when he recognized her.

He shouldn't forget her considering that they grew up together when they were kids. Even with the three year ago difference, they were always close.

But after the fire…That was the last time she saw him.

Both of their lives changed that night.

He's life changed more since his whole family was killed in the fire.

The fire left scares on her body.

She was only thirteen when it happened.

XXX

_Thirteen year old Riley was dropped off at the Hale house by her mother._

_She walked up the steps and rang the doorbell._

_Derek's mother answered, "Hello dear, Derek's not home. I think he went out with friends to watch a movie."_

"_Oh," she looked disappointed, "He told me I could come over tonight."_

"_Maybe he forgot. You can wait on him. We were about to have dinner. Have you had anything yet?"_

"_No."_

XXX

One thing she will always remember about Derek's parents, they always had family and friends over. The house was always full of people. She liked it that way.

After school, Riley stood outside the rundown, fire burned house that used to be the Hale residents. She hadn't been back here since the fire. The place just held too many memories.

XXX

_Sometime during dinner, men arrived at the house. They had guns._

_Everyone was forced to go down into the basement. It was the only place Derek's parents and uncle could keep everyone safe from the men with the guns._

_XXX_

She walked around to the side of the house where, police told her, she somehow got out that night. Someone pushed her through the bared window to safety.

She couldn't remember any of it.

She was knocked out from the burning bookcase in the basement.

XXX

"_It's okay. Everyone is going to fine. They will leave once they realize they can't get in here," Peter said who was Derek's uncle._

_Riley tried to keep the younger children calm._

_Smoke started to fill the basement._

_Someone had thrown in fire bombs through the bared windows._

_After just a few moments, everyone was passed out because of the smoke or the fire burned them up._

_Riley and Peter were running around trying to find a way out._

_Riley didn't see that the bookcase was tipping over until it was too late._

_It landed on her back._

_Peter, who was half burned himself, pushed the bookcase off of Riley._

_He found that she was still alive just unconscious._

_The same couldn't be said about anyone else in the basement._

_They were all dead at this point._

_Peter was able to push Riley through a broken bared window but just barely._

_The fire department arrived to put out the fire but it was too late._

_A firefighter found Riley._

_XXX_

Riley was bent over touching the bared window Derek's uncle pushed her through, saving her life.

"What are you doing here?"

She spun around to find Derek Hale standing a few feet away from her.

"I…I don't know. I felt the need to come back here," she said.

"Why?" he asked.

She looked at him for a moment. He looked back.

"I don't know…Seeing you after so many years. I felt like I had to."

He walked to her and grabbed her left arm gently. He looked down at her arm as if he knew that just under the layer of the sweat shirt; he would find her scares from the fire.

He looked into her eyes.

She looked up at him, since he was taller than her.

"You shouldn't have come," he said and then looked up at the full moon rising in the sky for that night.

"What are you doing back here?" she asked getting his attention again.

He leaned in a little more closely and took a sniff of her.

She looked at him like he was insane.

He let go of her arm, "It's none of your business. You should go home. This is private property."

Derek walked her back to her car and watched as she drove off.


	4. The Party

Chapter 4

The Party

"Can we stop somewhere first?" Allison asked Scott who was driving to Lydia's party.

"Where?" he asked.

"Do you know where Riley Goodwin lives?" she asked.

"Yeah."

Scott was parked in front of Riley's house while Allison was talking to her at the door.

With his new hearing ability, he was able to hear everything that was said between the two girls.

"I don't know why I let you talk me into going. Lydia is not going to like this. In fact no one is going to like this," Riley said.

"I don't care what she thinks. And neither should you. She said I could invite anyone and I'm inviting you and Scott," Allison said.

"McCall?"

"Yeah, you know him?"

"I work with him."

"Well then let's get going. We are already late. Are you wearing that?" Allison asked.

Riley looked down at her jeans and jacket, "Is there something wrong?"

"No, its fine. Come on. Scott's waiting."

Riley and Allison got into Scott's car, "Hi Riley," he said.

"Hello Scott. So you got dragged to this thing too?" Riley asked.

He looked at Allison in the passenger's seat, "I wouldn't say that," and took off driving to Lydia's party.

On the way over, they were listening to the radio where there was a news report on the dead body that was found in the woods the other night.

Scott turned the radio off.

Once there, Riley received some 'what are you doing here?' looks but she ignored him.

"If you guys don't mind, I might be hanging with you guys like a third wheel. I don't know anyone here," Riley said.

"You go to school with these people," Scott said.

"That doesn't mean that I know them," she said.

"That's cool," Allison said, "You can hang with us until someone wants to talk to you."

"Like whom?" she asked.

"That guy over there," Allison pointed, "He seems to be staring at you," she whispered that last part to her.

Riley looked up to see Derek standing on the other side of the pool looking at her.

"Do you know him?" Scott asked.

She looked at Scott and then back at Derek but he was already gone, "I used to know him."

Riley looked around for Derek but couldn't see him anywhere, "I'm going to get a drink."

Riley was alone at the table getting a drink when, "What are you doing?" Lydia asked her.

"I'm having fun. Isn't that what's you're supposed to have at parties?" Riley asked sarcastically.

"I didn't invite you," she said.

"Allison did. You know your best new friend," Riley said.

She sighed, "I wish you would leave. I don't want freaks at my party," she walked away.

"Says the freak hosting this party," Riley said.

An hour into the party; she standing up against the side of the house watching everyone else having fun. She wished she didn't come but Allison asked her. She got to know Allison over the past couple of days because they are in the same study hall.

She kept her eyes open for Derek but she couldn't find him.

After finishing her fourth drink, Derek appeared in front of her.

She just stared at him questioningly. He didn't say anything until, "Allison's looking for you."

Then Allison stepped in front of him, "Glad I found you. Scott left suddenly. I don't know what happened. One minute we were dancing and the next…Derek said he can drive us home…Riley? Did you hear what I said?" Allison asked.

She didn't take her eyes off of Derek, "Yeah, I heard you," she looked at Allison now, "This party blows anyway."

"You stood here the entire time," Allison said.

"That's what happens when the host of the party calls you a freak."

"She didn't," Allison said.

"It doesn't matter. Can we go?"

Derek led the way to his car. Riley rode in the passenger's seat and Allison sat in the back. They whole car ride was silent until Derek dropped off Allison first.

"So you're back in Beacon Hills?" she asked.

He didn't say anything.

"What brings you back after so many years?"

Nothing.

"I'm trying to have a conversation here," she said.

"I don't want to talk," he said.

"We are going to have to eventually," she said.

Derek stopped the car and Riley looked up. They were already at her house.

"You remembered where I live," she said.

"You remembered where I used to live," he said.

Silence.

She looked at him, "We are going to have to talk eventually, you know that right?"

"I know," he said, "But not tonight."

"When?"

He sighed, "Riley, I don't know. Please," she got out of the car, "Riley," he stopped her, "Stay away from Scott."

"I haven't seen you in six years and when I do you won't talk to me and now you want to tell me who to I have to stay away from," she said, "Screw you, Derek!" she slammed the door.

She quickly walked up to her house. She heard Derek's car take off into the night.

XXX

"Scott," Riley called catching up to him in the hallway at school, "What happened to you last night?"

"I…wasn't feeling well. I went home," he said.

"You could have taken us home too. You left Allison and I stranded," she said.

"I heard you got a ride from someone. You said you knew Derek?" he asked.

She got a little irritated, "Does it matter? You should stay away from him," she said using Derek's words from last night, "He's a dick," she said and walked off.


	5. The Game

Chapter 5

The Game

"I hear that you are starting on Saturday's game," Riley said coming up behind Scott at his locker, "Congrats! Even, if you did nearly kill Jackson for it."

He shut his locker, "It was an accident," he said.

"Well, even if it was, good job. Some people do need to be taken down a few pegs," she said, "I'm actually going to go to the game tomorrow night, so don't screw it up or I'm going to regret going."

"Thanks," he called after her.

Riley sat with Allison at lunch that day.

"So are you going to the game?" Allison asked.

"Yep," Riley replied.

"Well, I'm glad. You're getting out more," Allison said. Riley gave her a look, "What? It worries me that you don't have any friends. I'm new here and I have more friends than you," she said.

"I went out the other night to Lydia's party," Riley said.

"Well, that's a start. Oh, that reminds me. Did you and Derek say anything before he dropped you off?" she asked.

"You were there," Riley said.

"He dropped me off first. You were alone with him for what, 10 minutes?"

"Does it matter?" Riley asked.

"Yes."

"Yeah, we talked," she said.

"And?" Allison asked.

"And about how much of a dick he really is," she said.

"Do you know him?" Allison asked.

"We used to be friends when we were kids and then he left…after the fire. I hadn't seen him for years until quite recently," Riley said.

"Wow, so you guys have history?" Allison asked.

"Allison, stop. We were kids and that's it," she said.

"But that was then and this is now," Allison said, "Did you put my jacket in my locker?"

"No," she replied as the bell rang, "See you later."

"Riley, you should come with us to celebrate after the same with me, Scott, Jackson, and Lydia," Allison said.

"And you had me at Lydia. I don't think so, have fun with that," she said.

After school, Riley headed to her car. She knew she had a busy shift at the vet because Scott doesn't work when he has practice, and with the game tomorrow night he had major practice that night.

When she got closer to her car to saw Derek leaning up against it, "What do you what?" she asked.

"You said we should talk," he said.

She came to stand in front of him, "You want to talk now? I have to be at work in 15 minutes," she said and noticed he was looking behind her. She turned to see Scott and his friend Stiles looking at the pair of them. She looked back at Derek who was staring at her, "What is up with you two?" she asked.

"What do you mean?"

"You tell me to stay away from him and Scott asks me questions about how I know you," she said.

"What do you tell him?" he asked.

"I told him he should stay away from you because you are bad news," she said.

"You said we should talk," he said again.

She rolled her eyes, "The famous words you said to me 'I don't want to talk'. Now if you don't move I'm going to scream 'rape'," she said.

He looked at her and moved after from the driver side door of her car and watched her drive off.

XXX

Riley sat alone on the bleachers at the lacrosse game until Allison came to sit down next to her, "Riley, this is my dad; dad this is Riley," Allison introduced them.

"Hello," her father said holding out his hand.

"Hi, Mr. Argent," she said as she took his hand.

"You in the same grade as Allison?" he asked Riley.

"No, I'm a senior."

"Exciting, do you have plans?" he asked.

"I'm waiting to hear from colleges," she said.

"I'm sure you will get in where ever you want," he said.

"Thanks."

"Did you hear about Derek Hale?" Allison asked once her father left to get some popcorn for them.

"Yeah," she said sadly.

"I can't believe just the other night he was giving us rides home. He could have hurt us," Allison said.

Riley looked at her, "You shouldn't believe everything you hear about a person," Riley said, "You didn't believe everything that was said about me, did you?"

"No, but you're different."

"Am I?" Riley asked.

"I didn't mean it like that," Allison said.

"Hello Allison, Riley," Lydia said as she came up to them. She sat down next to Riley, "I'm surprised to see you here," Lydia said to Riley.

"I'm here supporting Scott," she said.

"Oh, really, then you should have brought on of these," Lydia said holding up a sign that said, 'We Luv Jackson'."

"Why didn't I think of that?" Riley asked sarcastically.

"Maybe because you don't think a lot," Lydia said.

The game had begun. Scott wasn't doing so well because he hadn't got the ball or no one has passed it to him yet. Allison and Lydia would occasionally hold up the sign over her head. It was bugging the crap out of her.

The game had one minute and thirty seconds left and they were down by two. This was when Scott decided to actually play the game. He was tearing it up out on the field. He scored the next two points tying them with thirty-nine seconds left.

Riley even on her feet cheering, she knocked Lydia's sign out of her hands a few times.

Scott scored again winning the game. Riley was so excited she joined everyone done on the field to celebrate. She wanted to congratulate Scott on winning the game but like Allison, they couldn't find him anywhere.

When Riley was about to leave to go home she found Allison, "Did you find him?" she asked.

"Yeah, he's in the locker room," Allison said with a huge smile.

Riley gave her a look, "Am I going to find him fully clothed?" she asked.

"Riley! My dad could be anywhere," Allison said, "I only kissed him."

"Only?"

"If you're going to congratulate him you better go do it," Allison said spotting her dad.

Riley walked into the locker room and stopped at what she was hearing, "Medical examiner determines killer of girl an animal not human. Derek is human not animal. Derek not killer. Derek let out of jail," Stiles said.

"Are you kidding?" Scott asked.

"No here's a bigger kick in the ass. My dad ID the dead girl, both halves, her name was Laura Hale," Stiles said.

"Hale?" Scott asked.

"Derek's sister," Riley said coming out of the darkness, "She's the dead body?"

"Riley what are you doing here?" Scott asked stepping away from Stiles.

"I came to congratulate you for your win. Instead I hear about how Laura is dead," Riley said looking distant.

Stiles stepped forward, "You knew her?" he asked confused.

"I knew the whole Hale family," she said.

"Everything?" Stiles asked.

Riley looked at him confused, "What's that supposed to mean?"

Scott stopped him from saying anything more, "Riley, thank you, but you should go home. I'll see you at work tomorrow," he said.

Riley left and headed to her car. Once there she looked out onto the field and saw Derek and Jackson. Jackson was holding something but he was too far way to see what it was. Derek then turned away from Jackson and looked straight at Riley.

"Crap," she said.

Derek was heading over to her. It was too late for her to try to get away.

When he got close enough, "I heard you were released from custody for you know, not killing your sister," she said as he stopped in front of her.

"You believed that I would kill someone, my own sister?" Derek asked.

"No, I don't think you are capable of killing anyone. I only heard tonight that the girl was your sister," she said, "I'm sorry," she reached out to touch his arm.

He nodded his head but didn't say anything.

She smiled, "You know, Laura came to visit me when I was in the hospital after the fire."

"She did?" he asked.

"Yeah, she saw me everyday for awhile until she disappeared just like you," she said, "What happened to you, Derek?"

"A lot of things happened," he said.

Riley looked around, "Its cold, you should come over so we can have our long past due talk," she said.

He looked at her questioningly, "Not tonight, its getting late. I can come over tomorrow when you get off of work," he said.

"How did you know I have work?" she asked.

"I'll see you tomorrow," he said and left.

XXX

It was around 3:00 when Riley got home from work. Her parents were out of town all weekend and they wouldn't be back until late. She didn't know if Derek would actually show, but she hoped that he would.

She laid down on the couch in the family room so she could keep an eye on her drive way. She ended up falling asleep.

She woke up to the sound of tapping on the window. She looked up at the window in the family room and saw Derek was tapping on the window to get her attention. She slowly rolled off the couch and looked up at the clock at saw that she had been asleep for two hours. She unlocked and opened the door to find Derek waiting for her. She yawned before saying, "Come in."

He opened the screen door and walked past her into the entrance hallway. He waited for her to close and lock the door again and then followed her into family room, "Can I get you something? Water? Food?" she asked.

"I'm fine," he said and sat down on one side of the couch. She sat down on the other side away from him.

They sat in silence until Riley spoke up first, "Why did you back to Beacon Hills after so many years?" she asked.

"I can't answer that yet. My reason for coming is not finished," he said.

"What reason?" she asked. He gave her a look, "Okay, you don't have to answer," she said, "Why did you leave in the first place?"

"My whole family had been killed in the fire," he said irritated.

It was her turn to look at him, "Not everyone," she said turning toward him, "You had your sister and still have your uncle…"

He stopped her, "He's not really there, so he doesn't count," he said.

"You had me," she said, "You were my best friend, I know there is three years between us, but you were my best friend."

He looked away, "I know."

"I understand why you left but why didn't you say goodbye to me?" she asked.

"I did," he said looking back at her, "I came to you in the hospital, you were still unconscious but I did say goodbye to you."

"You missed out on all the fun stuff," she said, "The months in the hospital and the six surgeries. I missed a whole year of school because of the fire."

He reached over to touch her hand, "Can I see?" he whispered.

"Why?"

"Because I blame myself for them. To know that you were hurt so badly because of me," he said.

"The fire wasn't you're fault," she defended.

"You shouldn't have been there," he whispered, "I should have been there."

She got up to close the blinds in the family room, "You can't change what happened," she said while facing him. She turned her back to him and began to remove her long sleeve shirt. She still had a tank top on underneath, "I don't blame you for these," she whispered.

The flames had left scars on her upper back and down her left arm. The scars were visible enough with the tank top on.

She didn't know Derek had moved from the couch until he touched her scars. She flinched because it surprised her but he steadied. He began to trace her scars gentle with a finger. The only sound you could hear was their breathing.

Derek turned Riley around until she was facing him. He bent down a little to kiss her on the forehead. She closed her eyes for a few seconds, "Can you stay for dinner?" she asked as she opened her eyes to look at him.

He nodded his head 'yes'.

She turned to put on her long sleeve shirt again, "I hope you like cold sandwiches and chips because that's all I know how to make," she said.

He smiled, "That's fine."

They ate in silence across from each other at the table. They also sneaked secrets glances at each other while the other wasn't looking. Riley got more caught than not.

Derek was getting ready to leave, "You can come over more, you know, if you want to," she said.

"That was the best non-cooked meal I have ever had," he teased.

She punched him in the arm as she was opening the front door for him, "I'll see you later?" she asked hopefully.

"Maybe," he said and then leaned down to kiss her on the cheek.

Derek was out the front door before she could say anything.


	6. First Date

Chapter 6

First Date

"What do you think about this?" Allison asked Riley coming out of the changing room.

Riley looked up from the magazine, "I thinking, 'how is this fun watching you try on clothes?' I thought we were just window shopping and getting a pretzel," she said.

"We can still get a pretzel. I thought we were having fun. You can try on clothes too," Allison replied looking into the mirror, "I don't know if Scott will like this color."

"Oh, I see, this whole outing was to find an outfit for Scott," Riley accused, "You could have easily done with on your own."

"It's more fun clothes shopping when you have someone with you," Allison said.

Riley laughed, "Says you."

"Why don't you try on something?" she looked around, "Try on that red dress."

Riley looked to see what she pointed at. The red dress was knee length but had no sleeves, "I think I'll pass."

Allison spoke softly, "Is it because it has no sleeves?"

Riley held eye contact with Allison for a few seconds, "You are going to look great in whatever you decide to buy for Scott. He's not going to care what you have on because he's going to be with you," she said as she bent over to get her bag, "I'm going to get that pretzel now. Meet you there."

Allison stopped her, "I'm sorry if I upset you…I just don't know really anything about you. At school they say…I just want to be your friend."

Riley stood up and looked at her. She sighed and pulled down her shirt from the top to reveal the scar tissue on her left shoulder. Allison had large eyes as she realized why Riley had been so secretive. Allison walked over to her and pushed her shirt back into place, "I'm going to change and then we can get that pretzel, okay? My treat?" Allison asked.

"Now you're talking," Riley said trying to laugh.

They were now at a table with their pretzels.

"Can I ask what happened?" Allison asked.

Riley cleared her throat, "It was a house fire when I was thirteen…At the Hale house," she said.

"As in?" Allison asked.

"Yeah, Derek Hale."

"That's how you know him," Allison said.

"We grew up together…I was just at the wrong place at the wrong time," Riley said.

Allison cleared her throat, "Is it true, what people are saying about him? Did he…"

Riley interrupted her, "Derek was cleared of those charges. He's not capable of killing anyone."

"How do you know? I mean, you knew him years ago," Allison said.

"Yeah. And?"

"I just don't want to see you get hurt," Allison said.

Riley gave a fake laugh, "Derek would never hurt me."

"Okay," Allison said as she dropped the topic, "I have to go anyway. Thank you for putting up with me and my shopping."

"No problem. Anytime…okay not really," Riley said, "I'm just going to finish this and maybe get another."

"Parents out of town again?" she asked.

"As always," Riley replied, "You don't have to wait for me. It's a Friday night, shouldn't you be with Scott?"

"He was doing something with his mom. I'll see you Monday. Call me, if you need anything," Allison said.

"I will."

Riley sat alone at the table in the pretzel stand. She looked behind her as a group of five year olds laughing and running from their mothers toward the cotton candy stand. She looked back toward the fountain to find her view was blocked.

"Do you need another pretzel?" Derek asked.

Riley smiled, "And another root beer," she said handing him her cup for a refill.

He came back with her food and something for him. They sat in silence for a while, "So, what brings you to the mall?" Riley asked.

"I just came to walk around," he said.

She looked at him, "You've never liked going to the mall for anything, let alone 'just to walk around'," she said.

"You weren't at home…I thought I would catch you here. Not really my first option but there's not much in this town," he said.

"Yeah, just here and the movie theater, there really isn't much to this town," she said.

He leaned forward, "Do you want to get out of here?"

She leaned forward too, "What do you have in mind?" she asked.

"We can see where the road takes us," he said.

She leaned back in her stair, "That's what your dad used to say when we were bored and he would take us out driving," Derek looked uncomfortable, "I'm sorry," she said.

"No, its fine," he said.

Riley took in a big breath, "I drove here," she stated.

"I can follow you home and take my car," he replied.

She finished her drink, "I'm parked at Entrance E."

"I know," he said.

She gave him a questionable look before getting up to throw her trash away. Derek followed her out into the parking lot. From there he followed her home. She watched him from her review mirror. He kept his distance but that didn't seem to matter. She would almost hit everyone in front of her because she was too busy watching his car.

"Nice driving," Derek said as she got into his car.

"Thanks, I did learn from the best," she said, getting a smile from him, "Where are we going?"

"You'll see," he said.

They drove in silence for about 20 minutes heading out of town. When Derek shut the car off, Riley realized they were on top of Beacon Hill Cliff, a.k.a Dead Man's Cliff.

Derek got out of the car first and Riley followed, "Let me guess, you decided to get rid of me and this was the easy way," she said.

"Do you always have to be sarcastic?" he asked.

"I am when I'm nervous," she said.

"Do I make you nervous?" he asked.

"I don't know yet," she whispered.

Derek turned his back to her looking out toward town close to the edge. She joined him after she got done checking him out from behind. She stepped next to him looking toward town, "It looks different from here," she said.

"All most like a far off place where we don't belong?" Derek asked without looking at her.

"Yeah, almost," she replied.

Curiosity got the best of her and she took a few small steps forward to look down below the cliff. She looked down, "Oh shit," she whispered.

Derek came up behind with one arm secured around her, "Be careful, it's a long drop," he whispered in her ear.

It gave her the goose bumps, she turned her head slightly. The wind caught her hair and blew it into his face. He took a big inhale breath, capturing her scent, "Yeah, you make me nervous," she whispered to him.

Derek turned Riley around to face him. She tilted her head slightly to look at him in the eyes. He looked back at her intensely. He held her face into his hands as he kissed her for the first time. She returned the passionate kiss.

Derek broke away first. He leaned his forehead against hers, "Do you want to get out of here?" he asked.

Riley hesitated, "I…"

"I meant do you want me to take you home?" he asked.

"Yeah, that would be great," she said.

Derek took her by the hand and led her back to his car. He held open the door for her as she got in. He drove her home and kissed her on the cheek when he dropped her off.

XXX

Scott stopped Riley in the hallway, "Have you seen Allison?" he asked a little panicked.

Riley looked at Scott and then Stiles, "I haven't seen her since Friday. Why?" she asked.

"Nothing, thanks," Scott said trying to walk off.

She stopped him, "No, if there's something wrong tell me."

"I don't think that's a good idea," Stiles said to her.

"Shut up, Stiles," she said, "You're not the only one who cares about Allison."

"You like her too?" Stiles asked stunned.

Riley looked at him, "She's my friend too. Scott, really, this is the friend you like to keep around."

"Hey, I resent that," Stiles complained.

"Do I look like I care?" Riley asked.

"Guys!" Scott almost yelled, "This is not helping me find Allison," he walked off and Stiles followed him.

A few minutes later, she found Scott with Allison, "I see you found her," Riley said, "I forgot to ask earlier, can you give me a ride to work and then home? My car is in the shop."

"Sure," he said.

"How did you get to school?" Allison asked.

"I walked. Passed the blood stained school bus," Riley said, "That was pleasant."

Just then the principal made an announcement, "Attention students, I know you all are wondering about the incident that happened last night that involved one of our buses. While the police are trying to find out what happened, classes will continue as normal. I always have been told that there is a curfew now in place for minors. Thank you."

Riley smiled, "Well, that doesn't include me. I'll see you underage people later," she said.

XXX

"What took you so long?" Riley asked Scott, "We are going to be late."

"Sorry, I got caught up with Allison," he said.

"What else is new?" she asked sarcastically.

When they finally got to the animal clinic, Dr. Deaton was already working on removing stitches from the Sheriff's dog, "Hello Scott, Riley," the Sheriff greeted, "Aren't you guys running a little late?"

"My car is in the shop and I asked Mr. Unreliable to give me a ride," Riley said.

"Hey, I guess you don't need a ride home," Scott said.

"I know an empty threat when I hear one," she said.

"Employees, please get to work," Dr. Deaton said, "That is what I pay you guys to do, right?"

"Yes, sir," both Scott and Riley said at the same time.

"Doctor," the Sheriff said, "Can I have you look at these photos to get your take on them? These are from the bus attack.

Deaton took them, "I'm no expert," he said as he looked at them.

"We also found wolf hairs on Laura Hale's body," the Sheriff said.

This got both Riley and Scott's attentions, for different reasons, "A wolf?" Scott asked. Everyone turned toward him, "I mean I heard that wolves hasn't been seen in California for over six years."

"True enough," Deaton said, "But wolves are highly migratory. It would have wondered in from another state driven by impulse or stronger enough memory."

"Wolves have memories?" Scott asked.

"Longer term memories, yes, with a primal drive," Deaton said, "See these claw mark?" he asked pointing at the photo, "A wolf would have gone for the throat with its teeth."

"Do you think it's an animal attack?" the Sheriff asked, "A mountain lion?"

"Maybe," Deaton said, "I'll get the stitches out of Jack," handing the photos back.

"Thanks, Doc," the Sheriff said, "I'm just going to wait out there."

"Scott, will you help me?" Deaton asked.

"Sure," he said dazed.

Riley followed him out, "Sheriff Stilinski?"

He turned around, "Yes?"

"Ah, do you know yet how she died?" Riley asked.

"Laura Hale?" the Sheriff asked.

"Yes."

"I can't give out that information. It's still an open case," he looked at her, "Do you have any information?"

"No, I just…Did she suffer?" she asked.

He hesitated, "No," he finally said.

She knew he was lying. She began to walk away when he stopped her, "I know you have connections to the Hale family, and that you were in the fire," he said. She looked at him questioningly, "I was on duty that night. I was also the one to question you."

"I remember," she said, "I have to get back to work."

A few hours later, when Riley was alone with Scott, "What was up with all those questions about wolves?" she asked him.

"I…There my favorite animal," he said.

"Why not like dogs? They won't try to kill you," she said. Scott just laughed nervously, "What is up with you lately? Never mind, you can still give me a ride home, right?"

"That won't be necessary," Derek said coming up behind Scott, "I can give her a ride home."

"No, that's okay," Scott said, "I said that I would."

Riley just looked at Derek, "Scott, its fine. I know you have a life, most teenage boys do."

"Riley?!" Scott said.

She ignored him, "I don't get off for another thirty minutes," she said.

"I can wait," Derek said turning to have a seat in the waiting room.

"Riley, what happened to you telling me to stay away from him?" Scott said, "Maybe you should be taking your own advice."

"When I told you that, I was upset with him. Things have changed," she said getting back to work.

She watched as Scott disappeared into the waiting room, which she guessed that Scott might have something to say to Derek. (A/N: This is when Scott talks to Derek because he's afraid he might hurt Allison. Derek tells him how he could get his memory back from the bus attack.)

XXX

Derek drove Riley home. Once there she invited him for dinner, "How about I cook this time?" Derek asked.

"You cook?"

"When I need to," he said, "Do you have pasta?"

"Yeah," she said, "This I have to see."

"Maybe you will learn something," he said.

"You always did like teaching me new things," she said leading the way to the kitchen.

Riley sat at the table watching Derek move around her kitchen, "What did Scott have to say to you?" she asked.

"He…needed some advice," he said.

"Advice from you?" she asked sarcastically.

"Yeah, advice from me," he said.

Riley unfolded today's paper and gasped at what she saw, "What is it?" Derek asked moving toward her.

"This was the man who was attacked on the school bus," she said.

"Do you know him?" he asked.

"I don't know. I mean, I recognize him from somewhere. I just don't know where," she said as Derek looked over her shoulder at the picture.

"Maybe its nothing," he said.

"Maybe," she agreed.

Derek had fixed them chicken alfredo and pasta, "This actually looks…awesome," she said looking down at her plate.

"Did you doubt my skills?" he asked. She looked at him. He didn't realize the double meaning of what he said until he looked up at her. He gave her a rare smile, "Just try it," he said.

She did, "This is really good."

After they ate, Riley did the dishes real quick. They went into the living room to watch some TV, but neither one of them could pay attention to it. They were too busy paying attention to how close they were sitting next to each other on the couch. Without touching him, she could feel the heat radiating off his body. Riley realized if she moved her right leg or hand a little she could just touch him.

At the same time, they looked at each other. Riley couldn't take it anymore. She leaned over to kiss him. She broke away to breath for a second but Derek had other plans. He pushed her over so that she was lying on her back with him on top. After a while she was very aware of him in between her legs, "Derek," she said breathless between kisses.

He stopped to look her in the eye. She looked back up at him. He started to remove himself from her, "I know," he said.

She stopped him, "You know what?"

He sat up next to her, "I know," he repeated.

She sat up too, "You have to be more pacific," she said.

"I know that you're a virgin," he said like it was no big deal.

"How…How could you possible know that?" she asked.

"I just do," he simple said.

After a few seconds, "At least the embarrassing conversation is out of the way," Riley said.

Both of them started to laugh.

XXX

Riley sat alone at lunch the next day, thinking about what happened the night before. Thinking about Derek in between her legs. She sighed and realized Allison was sitting across from her, "What?" she asked.

"I said, what has you smiling so big?" Allison asked.

"N…Nothing," Riley replied.

"Sure," Allison said, "Scott and I are going bowling tonight."

"That's your big date?" Riley asked.

"Yes, well, I wouldn't call it a date. We're going with Jackson and Lydia," she said.

"Are you sure you guys aren't visiting hell? Cause that sounds so much like that place," Riley said.

"Its not going to be bad," Allison defended.

"Anything with Lydia and Jackson is the definition of bad," she said.

"Why do you always say bad things about them?" Allison asked, "They have been nothing but nice to me since I moved here."

"Ever since they started high school, they have made my life hell. Spreading rumors or making jokes, it never fails with them," Riley said.

Allison reached for Riley's hand on the table, "I'm sorry, I didn't know," she said.

"It's okay," Riley said.

Scott and Stiles joined them, "What's okay?" Scott asked sitting next to Allison.

Stiles looked at the seat next to Riley and then saw the look on her face and decided against sitting next to her.

"Nothing," Allison said.

"Scott I can handle," Riley said and then looked at Stiles, "But him no. He's going to have to go."

"What's wrong with me?" Stiles asked.

"Everything," Riley, Scott and Allison said at the same time.

"Thanks friends," Stiles said.

XXX

"I'm sorry you have to drive me around everywhere. My car is still in the shop until tomorrow," Riley said to Derek.

"I don't mind," he said.

"Um, can you take me tomorrow to pick it up?" she asked.

He sighed, "I guess. I need to stop for gas," he said after looking at his gas gage.

Derek pulled up in the Food Mart gas station. She waited in the car as he went out to pump gas. Two SUVs drove into the gas station; one behind them and one in front of them. Allison's father got out of the red one and some guys out of the silver one. They all watched Derek pump the gas.

Riley rolled down her window, "Is there something wrong?" she asked Derek quietly.

"Everything is fine," he said tensely.

"Nice ride," Mr. Argent said to Derek as he walked up to the car. He noticed Riley in the passenger's seat, "Black cars though, are very hard to keep clean. I would advise a little more maintenance," he said to Derek, "Hello, Riley, nice to see you again," he picked up a window washer and started to wash the windshield.

"Hi, Mr. Argent," Riley replied.

"You have something that is nice, you want to…take care of it, right? Personally, I am very protective of the things I love," he said and then looked at Riley, "I learned that from my family. You don't have much of that these days, do you?"

Riley saw in the side mirror, Derek gripping his fist. He saw Riley looking at him and he relaxed.

Mr. Argent nodded, "There you go," he put the window cleaner away, "You and Riley can actually look through your windshield now. See how it makes everything so much clearer," he looked at Riley and bent down a little, "Take care of yourself. You don't know who you are going to meet these days."

He started to walk away and back to his SUV, "You forgot to check the oil," Derek called.

Mr. Argent turned back around, "Check the man's oil," he said to the other guys from the silver SUV.

One guy walked up to the driver's window and bashed the window with something. Causing the glass to break and scatter.

Riley screamed and covered her face while turning away from the flying broken glass.

"Looks good to me," the guy said.

"Drive safely you two," Mr. Argent said before going to his SUV and taking off.

Derek did everything in his power not to go after them, "Are you okay?" he asked opening her door.

Riley looked up at him and he saw that some of the glass cute her face, "What the hell was that all about?"

"Nothing," he said while touching her cutes.

She hissed in pain.

"Bullshit! That was not 'nothing'. That was something," she said smacking his hand away, "Does Allison know how psycho her father is?"

"I said it was nothing," he said getting angry. He walked around to the driver's side. He opened the door and started to remove the glass.

"Don't get mad at me!" she raised her voice.

Derek stopped what he was going and looked at her and sighed, "I'm not mad at you. I'm mad that you were here with me and that he saw that you were with me," he said.

"Why did he do this?" she asked.

"I can't tell you," he said.

"Fine. Can you take me home?" she asked, "I don't feel like hanging out anymore."

Derek drove Riley home. Once there he followed her into the house, "I said I was fine," she complained walking into her bathroom.

"Just let me help you," he said pointing at her face, "It's my fault," he sighed, "It's always my fault that you end up hurt."

"Hey, I admit, this time was partly you're fault but the rest of it isn't true," she said as she looked at herself in the mirror at the damage. Derek was behind her. She bent down to get the first-aid kit out of the cabinet. Derek reached and took it out of her hand. He set the first-aid kit on the countertop. He turned Riley around to face him and then lifted her easily up on the countertop, "What are you doing?" she asked.

"Fixing you," he said while getting a band-aide.

"It's going to take more than a band-aide," she whispered.

"That's not true," he whispered back. He cleaned up the cuts and bandaged them. He was washing his hands, "We can't see each other anymore," he said suddenly.

Riley hopped off the countertop, "What?"

"After tonight, we can't see each other anymore," he said turning toward her before leaving the bathroom.

"Derek," she followed him, "I don't understand. Is it because of what happened tonight?" she asked.

He stopped walking, "Its part of it," he said, "I shouldn't have fooled myself into thinking that this would work. It's not safe."

"Why isn't it safe?" she asked.

"You wouldn't understand," he said at the front door.

"You tried talking to me, I just might," she said, "Derek, please, just talk to me."

"I'm done talking," he said slamming the door behind him.

Riley slid to the floor, crying her eyes out.


	7. Truth

Chapter 7

Truth

Riley hasn't seen or spoken to Derek in a few days. She's not entirely sure how she feels about that but he said that they shouldn't see each other anymore. His lose, right? But it still kept her up at night, crying herself to sleep. She felt like her life was changing for the better because of him and not it's just at a stand still.

Two-o-clock in the morning one day, Riley found herself in her kitchen drinking a glass of milk when she heard the strangest sound. She looked out her window trying to see if she could figure out the source of the sound, but it was too far away to tell. It sounded like a howl.

A bad feeling started to sink in.

XXX

Riley was at her locker the next day exchanging her English book for her Government book and notebook. Out of the corner of her eye, she thought she saw Derek. She turned to look but no one was there down the hall. She knew she must have been seeing things or someone who looked like Derek. It wasn't him, she kept telling herself. He has no business at the school. Riley was beginning to miss him.

"Riley," Allison called, getting her attention, "I haven't talked to you much in the last couple of days."

"I didn't feel like talking to anyone," Riley told her.

"Is everything okay?" Allison asked.

She sighed, "Everything is fine," she said, closing her locker.

"I needed to ask you something," Allison said, "Do you have condoms?" she whispered.

"Do I personally?" Riley laughed, "No."

"Oh, I thought that you would because of Derek," Allison said.

"Why do you need them?" Riley asked, "Numb question. According to my trashy romance novels, he should supply them."

"Oh, okay. It's something Lydia told me earlier. I just thought I should get some, just in case," Allison said.

"One, you shouldn't take advice from the whore of Satan and two, maybe you should wait if you're that nervous about it," Riley told her.

"I'm not nervous," Allison said, "Okay, I'm just worried."

"I'm sure Scott will understand," Riley said, "And if he doesn't, I'll kick his ass."

"Thanks Riley," Allison said as the bell rang for the next class.

Riley headed to her Government class when she was stopped in the hall, "You shouldn't say that about my girlfriend," Jackson said.

"Well, it's kind of true," Riley said, turning around, "She is dating you."

"Would that make me Satan?" he asked.

"That would be you, yes," she said.

"You should watch what you say or that mouth of yours is going to get you in trouble one day," he threatened.

"What are you going to do?" she asked before turning around to walk away.

Jackson grabbed her arm and pushed her up against some lockers, "I just might have to teach you a lesson," he said.

"Are you going to hit me?" she asked.

"No," he said before slamming his fist into the locker beside her head. The slam caused her to drop her books, "You should also tell your boyfriend to stay off of school property or I'm going to tell the cops that he's selling drugs to students," he said before walking off.

She bent down to pick up her things. She learned one thing from Jackson, beside him being a complete asshole. She did see Derek earlier.

Riley ran into Scott toward the end of the day, "Have you seen Derek today?" Riley asked him.

"No, why would I?" Scott asked.

"I don't know you two seem to have something going on. I figured if he's at the school that he came to see you because he didn't to see me," she said.

"Did something happen between you two?" Scott asked, "Did he do something?"

"Like what?" she asked.

"Did he…did he bite you?" he asked.

"No, he didn't touch me," she answered slowly.

"Good…I mean, I don't know what I mean," he said.

Riley changed the subject, "What ever you have planned with Allison tonight, I hope you use protection. Being pregnant at sixteen sucks, believe me, I saw the TV show," she said.

"What are you talking about?" Scott asked.

"You and Allison tonight, please bring condoms. It's your job," she said, checking the time, "I'm going to be late for work."

"Did Allison say something to you?" he asked.

"No, it's just that you should always be prepared…like a boy scout," she said, heading outside.

"Glad you got your car back," Scott called behind her.

"Me too," she replied.

XXX

"Riley, I'm going to call it a night," Dr. Deaton said, "I already filled out Max's paperwork for tomorrow. Can you finishing giving Tucker a bath and close up for the night?"

"I sure can," Riley replied.

"Thank you," Deaton said, grabbing his stuff and leaving the office.

"Tucker, I know, you hate baths," she said to the little rat terrier, "I'm almost done, sweetie."

Riley finished up with her work and began to close the office for the night. She grabbed her things, set the alarm system and left for the night. She was half way home, when she realized that she forgot her cell phone in her work locker. She turned her car around to go back to the office to get it.

When she pulled up in the parking lot, she saw some lights on in the back, "I thought I turned everything off," she said to herself. She unlocked the door and turned to shut off the alarm system but found it was already turned off. Against her best judgment, she walked slowly to the back, hearing voices the whole time.

"You faint at the sight of blood?" a male voice asked.

"No, but I might at the sight of a chopped off arm," another voice said.

"Alright, what about this, either you cut off my arm or I'll cut off your head," the first voice said.

Riley reached into her pocket about to call the police, when she remembered she didn't have it.

"What the hell is that?" she heard someone ask.

Riley thought she recognized that voice.

"My body trying to heal itself," the first guy said.

"It's not doing a very good job with it," she heard. After that she knew the squeaky voice belonged to Stiles. She heard a chain-saw noise and knew she had to do something before something bad happened. She rushed into the room to see Stiles with a mini-bone saw, preparing to cut off Derek's arm, "What the hell are you doing?!" she yelled, getting there attention.

Stiles dropped the bone-saw, "How come you didn't sense her coming?" he asked Derek.

"I've been a bit busy, trying not to die," Derek wheezed out.

"What are you doing? How did you get in here?" she asked again. She stepped forward and saw Derek's arm and the shape he was in, "What happened to you?" she asked reaching out to touch him.

"Don't," he choked out, turning away from her, "Get her out of here!" he shouted at Stiles.

"I'm not leaving until someone tells me what's going on," she said, "Have you been shot?" Stiles stepped toward her, "One more step and I'll hurt you," she said to Stiles.

Stiles backed off, "Your girlfriend is almost as scary as you," Stiles said to Derek.

At the same time, Derek shouted, "She's not my girlfriend," and Riley shouted, "I'm not his girlfriend."

"Could have fooled me," Stiles said.

"Derek, I can help you," Riley pleaded.

"No," he said.

"At least sit down before you fall over," she said, "Why did I walk in on Stiles preparing to cut your arm off?"

No one answered her.

"Stiles," Scott called from another room.

"Scott?" Stiles asked.

Scott walked into the back room, "What is she doing here?" he asked about Riley.

Riley looked at him, "That's the first thing you ask?" she asked.

Scott saw the bone saw on the floor, "Why do you have that?" he asked.

"Stiles was about to cut off Derek's arm," Riley told him.

"And I hope that you will prevent a life time of nightmares," Stiles said to Scott.

"Did you bring it?" Derek asked, barely standing.

Scott pulled out a bullet from his pocket and handed it to Derek.

"Haven't you seen enough of those for one day?" Riley asked stepping toward him again, but this time Stiles stopped her.

"What are you going to do with it?" Scott asked Derek.

"I'm going to…I'm going to…" Derek got out before passing out on the floor. He dropped the bullet.

Riley pushed passed Stiles to get to Derek. She bent down next to him, "Derek! Derek!" she shouted, shaking him a little, "Wake up!"

Stiles was beside her on the other side of Derek, "Scott, what are we going to do?" he asked.

"I don't know," Scott said, trying to get the bullet that rolled under the cabinet and into the drain.

"Derek!" Riley shouted again, "Call 9-1-1!" no one moved, "I don't have my phone," she said, "Stop worrying about the bullet and call 9-1-1."

"You don't understand," Stiles told her.

"What don't I understand!? Derek is hurt. He needs help," she said, shaking him again.

"I can't reach it," Scott said.

"He's not waking up," Stiles called.

Riley moved to support Derek's head in her lap, "Come on guys," she started to tear up, "I don't know what to do."

"I think he's drying," Stiles said, panicking, "I think he's dead."

"Don't say that," Riley said, putting his head down and moving again to check to see if Derek was breathing, "He's breathing but barely. Call 9-1-1! Please!" tears were now running down her face.

"Hold on, I almost have it," Scott said. After a few seconds, "I got it! I got it!"

"Please don't kill me for this," Stiles said.

"What?" Riley asked. She watched Stiles punch Derek in the face, "What is wrong with you?"

The punch caused Derek to wake up, "Give me…" Derek whispered. Scott handed him the bullet.

Derek tried to get up, "No, I think you should stay down," she said, getting a better look at his arm, "That looks bad."

Stiles and Scott helped Derek stand up and helped him to one of the lab tables, "Derek," she whispered. He was a little wobble and she helped to steady him. She watched as Derek put the bullet to his mouth and bit off one end. Derek emptied out the gun powder. Riley watched as he lit the powder on fire, "I don't understand," she whispered.

As if remembering that Riley was there, "Hold her back," Derek told Scott as he put the burnt powder into the palm of his hand.

Scott moved behind Riley and grabbed her arms, "Ow!" she complained.

"Careful," Derek warned.

"What are you doing?" Riley asked.

"Trust me," Derek said as he put the burnt powder to his bullet wound and pushed one finger into the wound.

The pain was so bad for him that it caused Derek to fall to the floor again. Riley tried to go to him again but Scott had a good hold on her. Riley was helpless as she watched Derek struggle to the floor.

Derek let out a loud growl. Riley watched as his bullet wound healed itself. There wasn't even a mark left.

Scott was practically holding her up; she couldn't believe what she just saw. She didn't say anything.

"That was awesome!" Stiles said.

Everyone looked at him.

Riley broke free from Scott and pushed herself against the countertop. Trying to prevent herself from falling.

"Are you okay?" Scott asked Derek.

"Except for the pain," Derek said sarcastically.

"I guess the ability to use sarcasm still work," Stiles said.

Derek looked past Scott and Stiles, "Riley?" Derek asked.

She looked up at Derek, "Did that just happen?" she whispered. Derek took a step toward her. She put one hand up, "Right there is fine."

"We saved your life," Scott said, getting Derek's attention again. Riley took the moment to sit down on the floor with her back to the cabinet, "That means you are going to leave us alone, you got that? Or I'm going to go back to Allison's dad and I'm going to tell him everything," Scott threatened.

"Are you going to trust them?" Derek asked him, "You think that they can help you?"

"Why not?" Scott asked, "They are a lot freaking nicer than you are."

Riley began to laugh. She covered her mouth, "Sorry," she said.

"I can show you exactly how nice they are," Derek said.

"What do you mean?" Scott asked.

"But first, I need to take Riley home," Derek said.

"I have my car," Riley said, "I can take myself."

Derek sighed, "Make sure she gets home safe," Derek told Stiles.

"Again with the orders," Stiles said. Derek gave him a look, "Alright, but this is the last time."

Riley stood up slowly, "I forgot my phone," she said, "That's why I came back."

"I'll get it," Scott said, leaving the room.

"Are you alright to drive?" Derek asked.

"I'm fine," she lied.

"Here," Scott said, handing her phone to her.

"Thanks," she said, walking past Derek without looking back toward the door.

"Watch her until I show up," Derek told Stiles, "Please."

"I will," Stiles said, following Riley out.

Riley didn't remember the drive home. She walked numbly toward her house and unlocked the door.

Stiles stayed in his jeep watching the house.

Riley took a quick shower and put her sleepwear on. She shut the lights off in her room and sat down on her bed with her back against the wall. She stared at nothing, in the dark, for awhile.

XXX

Derek left the animal hospital with Scott. They drove to the local hospital and walked into a patient's room.

"Who is he?" Scott asked.

"My uncle, Peter Hale," Derek said.

"Is he? Like you, a werewolf?" Scott asked.

"He was…now he's barely even human," Derek said, "Six years ago, our house was on fire. My sister and I weren't at home. Twelve people were trapped inside…including Riley. She and my uncle were the only survivors…"

"They must have had a reason," Scott said.

"Why would they do something like this?" Derek asked while moving his uncle to face then. Scott saw the burn scars, "There were ordinary people in that house…Riley was in that house. Not just werewolves. She didn't deserve this," he said.

"How did you get in here?" a nurse asked them.

XXX

It was almost an hour since Riley has been home, "I knew you would come," she said.

Her bedroom light flicked on and revealed Derek standing in her doorway, "Can I come in?" he asked.

"You let yourself in up to this point, why not go a little bit more?" she said.

Derek walked in and sat down at the end of her bed, "You parents gone again?" he asked.

"Nope," she said, "I've been lying to everyone about parents for a while now," Derek looked at her, "They don't go away every weekend and leave me here alone. My parents are divorced. My dad doesn't live here anymore and neither does my mom half the time. She's too busy getting drunk at the bar to come home. She can't be here without being sad, so she drinks."

"I didn't know," he whispered.

"Why would you? I wasn't the only one keeping a secret," Riley said.

They were silent for a while, "About what you saw…" Derek started.

"So that did happen back there?" Riley asked, interrupting him.

"Yes," he said.

"What exactly did happen?" she asked.

"I'm a werewolf," he said.

"A werewolf?" she asked.

"Yes," he replied.

"Like with the full moon and everything?" she asked.

"Something like that," he said.

Derek spent some time telling Riley everything, beginning with the werewolf legend and his family's history. He even told her about the fire and why that happened. The end of it, Riley was sitting cross-legged, facing Derek who was in the same position on her bed.

"Is that everything?" she asked.

"Yes," he said.

"You're a werewolf…well, that's not the worst thing in the world," she said.

"What could be worse?" he asked.

She laughed, "I have no idea," she said, "You tell me."

He laughed too.

She leaned forward to touch his face. He leaned in the rest of the way to kiss her on the lips. She smiled at him once they kiss was broke off. She slide her hand down his arm and stopped at the place his wound once was, "Does it still hurt?" she asked.

"A little, but nothing some rest couldn't fix," he said.

She looked at him, "You can stay here," she said, "To rest."

He nodded his head and got up from the bed. He walked over to the door to shut it and then took off his shirt. Riley watched him the whole time. Before Derek shot off the lights, she crawled under the sheets and laid down on her side face the door. She listened to Derek take off his shoes and walk around to the other side of the bed. She felt him get in behind her.

After failing to go to sleep she turned around to face him. She found Derek on his back looking up at the ceiling. When she turned to look at him, he looked at her. Riley moved so that she was curled up beside him with her head on his bare chest. She was contempt with herself and was able to go to sleep. Derek followed her shortly afterward.

XXX

Some time in the middle of the time, Riley woke up with Derek hovering over her. She looked up at him and saw a look in his eyes. She touched the side of his face and lowered him to her to give him a passionate kiss.

Derek tugged on her shirt and broke off the kiss to ask her the silent question. She nodded her head and that was all he needed to take off her shirt. He kissed her again. After awhile, Riley began to remove his pants. He stopped her and sat up on his knees between her legs. He removed his pants and her short until the only piece of clothing between them were her underwear. He was still on his knees when he looked down at her again. She looked back up at him, "Derek," she whispered. That was her giving him permission.

Derek removed her underwear.

He was gently and sweet. He wanted only the best for her first time.

Afterward, Derek covered themselves up as Riley took her original position from early, curled up in his arms.


	8. Secrets

Chapter 8

Secrets

Riley felt a tingle sensation up and down her bare back. She opened her eyes to Derek on his side, facing her and touching her back, "What are you doing?" she whispered.

"I'm amazed at how beautiful you are," he said.

"Even with the scars?" she asked.

He stopped what he was doing to look at her, "Your scars are apart of you and I love everything about you," he said before going back to tracing her scars.

She smiled and turned her head to try and go back to sleep, "What is that?" she asked.

"What?"

"The bright shine beyond my curtain," she said.

He laughed, "That would be the sun," he said.

She covered her face with a sheet, "Shut it off," she complained, "I'm so tried."

Derek hopped over her to block out the sun, "Is that better?" he asked.

She peeked at him from under the sheet, "Better," she said.

"Don't you have school?" he asked.

"Yes, but I could really careless about that," she said before pulling him down to kiss her.

"I thought you were tried," he said.

"Not when it comes to you," she said.

Derek hovered over Riley once again before spreading kisses everywhere on her body as he went lower and lower. The kisses tickled Riley a little bit, "Derek," she giggled, "What are you doing?"

"Trust me," he said before continuing his journey down her body, "This is something I should have done last night," he whispered.

"What?" she asked before gasping for air because Derek found what he was looking for.

A little while later, Riley was in the shower singing to herself. She didn't hear the door open and close. The shower curtain was pulled to the side and the next thing she knew, Derek was standing before her naked and in all of his glory.

"What are you doing?" she asked.

"Taking a shower," he said, trying to step in.

"Oh, no, I'm taking one. Alone," she said, "You can have the next one." He smirked at her as he eyed her body, "Don't look so smug with yourself," she said.

"You liked what I did, didn't you?" he asked, raising an eyebrow.

She rolled her eyes, "Yes, but it was like a surprise sneak attack. I don't like surprises," she said.

He cleared his throat and held up two fingers, "I gave you two surprises," he said with a smirk.

"Get in here," she said, "But we are only taking a shower. I'm already late for school."

"Whatever you say," he said, getting in behind her.

Derek put shampoo in her hair and washed it for her. All the while not breaking eye contract with her. Once he was done she couldn't take it anymore and pushed him against the wall. He then proceeds to wrap an arm around her waist and turned them so Riley was the one up against the wall.

They were now in Riley's room fully dressed for the day.

"If that's your definition of just taking a shower, I think I'll be over every morning to take one with you," Derek said.

She tossed a towel at him, "I'm even later to school now because of you." He caught the towel easily, "What does this mean now?" she asked.

Derek put on his serious face again, "It means whatever you want it to mean."

Riley walked over to him, "I want us to come to the same conclusion. Last night, I saw you as a completely different person. The boy I knew before the fire."

Derek stepped away from her and headed for the door.

"I'm sorry if I made you upset," she said.

"You didn't. I have things to do today," he said.

"See you later?" she asked.

He didn't respond.

XXX

"Riley," Allison said before sitting down at the lunch table, "I missed you this morning."

"I overslept and missed most of first period. I've been playing catch up all morning. Sorry," Riley replied.

"That's okay, you do look really tried," Allison said.

"How well do you know Scott?" Riley asked.

"Why?"

"Has he told you anything major lately?" Riley asked.

Allison thought for a second, "He hasn't told me he loves me, if that's what you're asking," she said.

"Of course…Have you seen him today?" Riley asked.

"He's in the library with Stiles to study for a chemistry test," Allison said, taking a bit of her salad.

"Stiles knows what the library is used for," Riley said, looking confused.

Allison laughed, "Why do you pick on him? He's nice," she said.

"Saying Stiles is nice is like saying snakes are a great pet," Riley said, getting up, "I'll see you later; I promised Mrs. Mars I'd help her clean the sinks during my lunch period."

"Okay, bye," Allison said.

Riley left the cafeteria and headed toward the library. She walked in and looked around for Scott. She found him in the corner by the window. Scott had his back to her, as she approached the table he turned to look at her. As she sat down next to Stiles, he was giving her a weird look.

"What?" she asked.

"Is Derek with you? Is he here?" Scott asked, looking around the library for him.

She looked at him confused, "No."

"I smell him for some reason," Scott said, looking at Stiles.

"Why would you smell him? Scott, that's weird," Stiles said.

Scott looked back at Riley, "I smell him on you," he said, squeezing her arm.

"Scott, that hurts. Let go," Riley said.

Scott looked at her in the eye and let's go, "I'm sorry," Scott said before moving his chair over a little, "I didn't mean anything by it."

Short moment of silence, "So speaking of smelling things," Riley started and rolled her eyes, "Bad leeway, sorry, Derek told me everything last night. He said that you are a werewolf too."

"Yes," Scott said, scratching his head.

"I just wanted to let you know that I knew and that Allison doesn't know," Riley said, "Why doesn't she know?"

"I haven't told her," Scott said.

"He's afraid Allison would run away if she knew," Stiles added.

Riley and Scott looked at Stiles, "I wish you would run away," Riley said.

Stiles got the hint and left.

"Why do you care if Allison knows or not?" Scott asked.

"She should know. What if she gets hurt because of this secret," Riley said.

"Derek hasn't told you everything," he said.

"What?" she asked.

"Allison comes from a long line of hunters," Scott said.

"Hunters?" she asked.

"She doesn't know anything about that or me and I want to keep it that way," he said.

"Secrets don't stay hidden forever," she said.

"Well, this one is going to have to," Scott said, "Can you send Stiles back? We have to study."

"Sure. Study hard dog brain," Riley said, messing up his hair and she got up from the table.

Scott tries to fix it and stops Riley before she leaves, "Maybe you being with Derek will make him less grumpy," he said.

She turns around, "Okay?"

He smirks, "I can smell him all over you," he said.

Riley turned to walk away without saying anything to Scott.

XXX

Derek and Scott were on top of the roof of the local movie rental place after there had been another attack made by the alpha.

"Starting to get it?" Derek asked.

"I get that he is killing people but I don't get why. We don't go out in the middle of the night murdering people, do we?" Scott asked.

"No, we're predators. We don't have to be killers," Derek said.

"Why is he a killer?" Scott asked.

"That's what we are going to find out," Derek said before turning to leave.

"What's with you and Riley?" Scott asked, stopping him.

"What is it to you?" Derek asked.

"She's my friend. I don't want her to get hurt," Scott said, "I can smell you on her."

Derek rolled his eyes, "I don't judge you for your dating choices," he said.

"I'm not judging. Did you…Is she your mate now?" Scott asked.

Derek sighed, "It doesn't work like that. Werewolves can't mate with humans like that. Only two werewolves can mate for life," he said.

"What is she to you then?" Scott asked.

"Let me worry about that," Derek said before walking away.

XXX

Riley walked down the hall and noticed balloons coming out of Allison's locker, "What is this?" she asked Allison.

"Balloons," Allison said, trying to put them back.

"Is it your birthday? You could have told me. I could have gotten you something," Riley said.

"Sorry, I didn't tell anyone," Allison said.

"Well, someone knows," Riley said, pointing at the birthday card. Allison opened it, "Let me guess, one of the evil twins."

Scott walked up to them, "Is it your birthday?" he asked.

"No," Allison said and the same time Riley said, "Yes."

"I didn't want anyone to know. I don't know how Lydia found out," Allison said.

"I knew it, that evil twin," Riley said, "I'll leave you two."

Riley was heading to her Spanish class when she ran into Derek, who was coming out of the boys' locker room, "I haven't seen you since…well, you know when. And I see you coming out of the boys' locker room. Is there something I should know?" Riley asked.

"I told you I had things to do," Derek said.

"That was your excuse yesterday morning. You still doing those things or is this one of those things were a guy sleeps with the girl once and dumps her the next day? Please tell me now before I start thinking that I did something wrong," she said.

Derek rubs her arms to calm her, "You didn't do anything wrong and it's not one of those things. I have a lot going on right now," he said.

"Scott said something about you not telling me everything. Does it have something to do with that?" she asked. The bell rang, "And once again I'm late because of you."

"We'll talk, okay?" he asked.

"Okay," she agreed, turning to go to class.

Derek walked her to the classroom.

Riley was sitting at lunch when Stiles joined her, "What are you doing here?" she asked him.

"Scott ditched me today to be with Allison," he said.

"I'm sure he had good reason to ditch you but, why sit here?" she asked.

"I don't have anywhere else to sit," he said.

"Allison ditched school?" she asked.

"That is what I said thirty seconds ago. Weren't you listening?" he asked.

"Not to you, no," she said.

"Why don't you like me?" Stiles asked her.

"For one, you are so annoying that I physical want to hurt you," she said.

Stiles flinched, "I didn't do anything to you," he said.

She sighed, "It has a lot to do with your dad," she said.

"My dad?" he asked.

"He saw me at my worse, and I hate that anyone saw me that way," she said, "So I guess it really doesn't have anything to do with you…well, besides the whole annoying me thing."

"I'm sorry," he said, "If it means anything, he never talked about you after the fire."

Riley and Stiles sat, eating their lunch in silence for the rest of the period. There was an announcement minutes before lunch was over, about a reminder about parent-teacher conferences that evening.

"Shit! That's tonight?" Riley asked Stiles, scaring him with her loud outburst.

"Yes. You're parents can't make it?" he asked.

"My parents don't make it to a lot of things these days. Which means I have to come up with an excuse by tomorrow," she said, more to herself.

"How come?" he asked.

"I still don't like you," she said.

"And here I was thinking we made some progress," he said, causing her to laugh.

XXX

Riley had the night off so she was playing catch up with laundry. She was listening to music so she didn't hear someone walking up behind her. She felt a tap on her shoulder. She screamed and turned around to find that it was only Derek. She shut off her ipod, "What the hell? Don't scare me like that!" she shouted.

"I'm sorry. I had no where else to go," he said, out of breath.

She took in his appearance, "You look out of breath. Are you hurt?" she asked.

"I ran here," he said, leaning up against a wall in the laundry room.

"Without a shirt?" she asked, "I'm not complaining but what will by neighbors think."

"No one saw me," he said.

She reached out for him, "You should lie down before you fall down," she said, helping him up to her room. Once she got up in her bedroom, "What happened to you?" she asked.

Derek reached over to pull Riley onto the bed and started to kiss her. One thing led to another and they shared a few hours of bliss together.

Derek was on his back holding Riley in his arms, "What happened to you?" she whispered.

"Scott was right. There are some things I haven't told you," he said, "And I'm ready to tell you now."

Derek told her everything about the alpha and what he wants with Scott. He also told her about what happened at his house with Kate.

"That's everything that I know," Derek said.

"That's a lot to take in," Riley said.

"I know, I'm sorry for that," he said.

"You don't know who the alpha is?" she asked.

"No, it could be anyone. Scott and I are trying to figure it out," he said.

"What does this Kate have to do with all of it?" she asked.

"Kate is Allison's aunt," he said.

"From the hunters' side of the family?" she asked.

"Yes, she's a hunter. I thought she had killed my sister to get to me," he said.

"But it was the alpha?" she asked.

"Yes," he said before kissing her, "No one can know about us. If the hunters or the alpha knew, they could use you against me. And I can't stand the thought of you getting hurt."

"So we have to keep this a secret?" she asked.

"Yes, between you and me," he said.

"And Scott, he already knows since he can smell you on me," she said, raising an eyebrow, "It's going to be hard keeping it from him," she sat up suddenly, "But if Scott can smell it, wouldn't the alpha be able too?" she asked.

Derek sat up next to her and rubbed her back, "Calm down. Let's hope it doesn't come to that because I don't know how I could stay away from you," he said.

"With you around, you'll be able to protect me, right?' she asked.

"I'll always protect you," he said before kissing her.

Derek's phone started to ring from his pants pocket on the floor. He reached for them, "You have a phone?" Riley asked.

"I'll give you the number," Derek said before answering it, "Hello?"

…

"What?" Derek asked.

"What happened?" Riley asked.

…

"Okay, thanks for calling," Derek said before hanging up, "That was Scott. Allison's dad shot and killed a mountain loin that wondered into the school parking lot. He thought it was the alpha."

"He went all Rambo on a more defenseless mountain loin," she said.

"It was probably going to eat someone," he said.

"Oh, right," she said, "Too bad it wasn't going to be one of the evil twins."

"Evil twins?" he asked, lying back down with Riley.

"Have I got a story for you," she said.


	9. Weakness

Chapter 9

Weakness

"So, you're telling me that we can't be seen together in public?" Riley asked Derek one morning before school.

"Yes," Derek said.

"Are you ashamed of being seen with me?" she asked, tilting her head.

"No," he said, "I would love to take you out in public but I can't. Not with an alpha I have no idea of who it is and Kate being back in town. They would just use you to get to me, and I don't want that to happen."

"I figured the reason was something like that since it's like the third time going over it," she said. Derek walked over to her and kissed her, "None of that, I'm going to be late to school. I already have a detention because of you."

"If you see Scott today, tell him he has to stay away from Allison. His life is going to depend on it," he said, turning away to get some more coffee, "If he hears it from someone other than me, he might just listen."

"What makes you think he's going to listen to me?" she asked.

Derek smirked and looked at her, "He likes you more than me," he said.

Riley shrugged, "I am prettier than you. If I see him, I'll say something," she said, "Is it weird that you go to the 'office' to work with him and then come home to me? It's almost like a normal life."

"Home?" he asked.

"I…I mean it's home to me. It doesn't have to be home to you. You're home is a run down building…I'm just going to shut up now," she said.

Derek walked over to her again, "I'll see you later at home, honey," he gave her a kiss.

XXX

Riley was heading to class when she overhead Scott talking to himself, "Stay away from Jackson. Stay away from Jackson," he turned a corner, "Ah come on!" he said after seeing Lydia.

"I get that way all the time after I see Lydia," Riley laughed, "What's up with you?"

"Derek told me to stay away from Allison," Scott said, "And I didn't want to see them either."

"Yeah, Derek mentioned something this morning about you needing to stay away from Allison if you are going to have any hope at all," she said.

"He was over…He's a lot nicer to you than he is to me," he said.

"Well, for one thing, you're not sleeping with him," she said as Scott made a face, "And two, you're practically a baby. He's taking responsibility for you."

"I'm just saying he's a completely different person when he's around you," he said.

"I don't know what to tell you," she said, "See you at work."

At lunch, Riley saw Lydia sitting with Allison. She made the choice to ignore that altercation and had her lunch outside on the bleachers. What she found at the lacrosse field was almost as bad. Scott's hands were tied behind his back and Stiles was throwing lacrosse balls at him.

"Trying out a new game?" she asked as she approached them.

Scott was out of breath, "What are you doing here?" he asked.

"I was going to eat my lunch but watching this might be more fun," she said.

"I'm teaching him to control his anger," Stiles said.

"By hurting him?" she asked, "I thought Derek was your Yoda."

"Derek's way is to keep Scott away from Allison," Stiles said.

"Umm…Derek might have more experience on the whole thing," she said, "Ever think that staying away from Allison, for now, might be safer?"

"What makes you and Derek the exception?" Stiles asked.

"She's sleeping with him," Scott said.

Stiles stared at Riley, "I had no…idea," he stammered.

"What? Like me sleeping with someone wasn't a possibility?" she asked, a little angry.

"Nothing like that," Stiles said and then smiled, "I guess sleeping with the boss does have its perks."

Riley rolled her eyes and grabbed the lacrosse stick away from him. She smacked Stiles with the stick before throwing it back to him, "Ow!" he complained.

"Get over it," she said, "I'm going to watch from the bleachers."

Riley watched for a while and listened to them banter back and forth until Scott had a reaction and fell to the ground, "Scott, are you okay?" she asked, getting up to go back on the field.

"Stay back!" Scott yelled at her.

She stopped, "What's happening?" she asked.

"He's getting angry," Stiles said.

"Well, maybe it was you throwing balls at him that did it," she said sarcastically.

"Scott, you started to change," Stiles said to him.

"I'm angry but it was more than that," Scott said, "The angrier I got, the stronger I felt."

"So it is angrier. Derek was right," Stiles said.

"Well duh," Riley said.

"I can't be around Allison," Scott said.

"Just because she makes you happy?" Stiles asked confused.

"No, because she makes me weak," Scott said.

"She makes you weak?" Riley asked as she thought to herself, "If you are like that with Allison around, then I think you should just stay away from her."

"No argument here," Scott agreed.

"No, I'm serious. I'm looking out for her best interest because she doesn't know your secret and clearly you don't have her best interest in mind," Riley said, "I'm sorry Scott, I think you're great and all…" she walked off before finishing the statement.

XXX

Riley arrived to work that night on time, unlike Scott, who found himself in detention. She walked into the back to the labs to find Deaton, "Scott is going…" she saw Deaton tied to a chair and Derek standing beside him, "What are you doing?" she asked Derek.

"I'm getting some answers," Derek said.

She walked forward to look at Deaton to see if he was okay, "Next time could you do it like a normal person and just ask?" she asked before she reached a hand to touch him.

Derek pulled her away from him, "Don't touch him," he said.

"What could he possible know to be treated like this?" she asked, pulling away.

"He killed my sister," he stated.

"He killed Laura…but that would make him…" she started.

"The alpha," he answered.

"He's not the alpha. He's a freaking veterinarian," she said.

"I know it's him," he said.

She laughed, "Well, if you are wrong, you're going to have to come up with one hell of an explanation," she said.

"Let me handle it," he said before Deaton started to wake up, "Go stand in the corner and be quite," he pointed to the darkest corner in the room.

"Nobody puts baby in the corner," she said.

Derek just glared at her and she went to the corner.

"Are you protecting someone?" Derek asked Deaton.

"The key to the drug locker is in…" Deaton started to say.

Derek grabbed him from behind, "I didn't come for the drugs. I want to know why you're lying," he said.

"I don't know what you're talking about," Deaton said. Derek spun him around in the chair before picking him and the chair up like they were nothing, "What do you want?" Deaton asked.

"I want to know who you are and who you're protecting," Derek said.

The light in the room came on, "What are you doing?" Scott asked before noticing Riley in the corner.

"Scott, get out of here!" Deaton yelled.

Derek punched Deaton in the face causing him to black out, "Stop! Stop!" Scott yelled, coming into the room.

"When he's conscious he can heal himself but unconscious he can't," Derek said.

Scott looked confused.

"He thinks Deaton is the alpha," Riley said, stepping forward.

"Are you out of your mind? What are you talking about?" Scott asked.

"Do you want to know what the spiral means, Scott?" Derek asked.

"What spiral?" Riley asked, but was ignored.

"It's our sign for revenge. It means he won't stop killing until he's satisfied," Derek said.

"And you think he's the alpha?" Scott asked.

"I'm about to find out," Derek said before his claws came out.

Riley stepped forward to Derek to stop him. Derek started to swing down at Deaton but Scott stopped him. Scott wolfed out to do so. Derek pushed Riley away from Scott and stood in front of her. Riley watched, amazed, as Scott slowly turned back to normal.

"Hit him again and you'll see me get angry," Scott said dangerously.

Derek looked at Riley and realized she wasn't breathing properly, "It's okay. Calm down. Breathe," He instructed, "Look at me."

She was staring at Scott and then looked at Derek, "That's what happens when you…" she started.

"Yeah," he replied before walking her to the counter and picked her up to sit down on it.

Scott could hear Riley's heart beat uncontrollably, "I didn't mean to scare you Riley," Scott said.

She didn't say anything to him as she continued to stare at him.

Scott was helping Deaton, "Do you have a plan?" Derek asked.

"Just give me an hour," Scott said.

"Then what?" Derek asked.

"Meet me at the school in the parking lot," Scott said before looking at Riley, "You should take her home."

Derek walked over to Riley, "Come on, I'll take you home," he said but she didn't move.

"What's wrong with her?" Scott asked.

"She's in shock!" Derek shouted.

Riley spoke up, "Hearing about it is so much different than actually seeing it," she said.

"I know," Derek said, "Come on," he helped her down. He took her hand and led her out of the building to her car, "I'll drive you home in your car and come back for mine," he said.

Riley didn't say anything on the ride home. Derek parked her car, took her keys to unlock the door, and helped her change into pjs in her bedroom.

They were sitting on her bed, "Say something," Derek said.

"I honestly don't know what to say. Seeing Scott like that…It was like he was a different person," she said.

"He was," he said.

"But that means when you transform, you're a different person. I just never saw it that way. I was afraid of Scott…I don't want to be afraid of you," she cried.

Derek held her, "I should have shown you earlier…eased you into it," he said.

"Today at lunchtime, I saw Scott and Stiles…actually I still don't know what they were doing," she laughed a little, "Scott found out that Allison makes him weak," she looked Derek in the eye, "Do I make you weak?"

"No," he said, "You help me stay human during transformations. Every werewolf has something that keeps them grounded. You are a part of that now."

Derek sat there, with his back to her headboard, holding Riley for a while, "Does Allison know about us?" Derek asked suddenly.

"Why? Are you going to tell me to stay away from her too?" Riley asked.

"If she knows, then Kate might find out," he said.

"No, she doesn't know. I haven't told her anything about us," she said, "She only knows that I knew you many years ago."

"Good," he said.

"Am I aloud to still see her?" Riley asked, mockingly.

"I think you would see her no matter what, like Scott does," he said.

Riley looked at the clock, "You better get going to see Scott," she said.

Derek got up and covered Riley up, "You should get some sleep," he said before kissing her forehead, "I'll come back later."

XXX

A little while later, Riley still couldn't get to sleep, no matter how hard she tried. Especially not after the night she just had. She went down to the kitchen to get something to eat. She made herself a bowl of cereal. She was in the process of eating it when she got a text from Derek.

It said to meet him at the school.


	10. After School Activities

Chapter 10

After School Activities

**Meet me at the school. URGENT – Derek**

Riley clicked her phone off, put the unfinished bowl of cereal in the sink and headed upstairs to change. After changing, she drove to the high school. She parked her car and saw Derek and Stiles' cars. Stiles' jeep had the hood almost ripped off. She ran toward the open entrance door and went inside.

**I'm here.**

She wrote to Derek.

She walked around the dark, empty hallways almost afraid to call out knowing that Derek could easily find her. She kept on walking around for a few minutes until she saw a dark figure at the end of one hallway. It looked like a person until the figure fell on four legs and took off toward her. She turned around and ran as fast as she could but it was gaining distance on her. She rounded a corner and made half way down a hallway when she was knocked into lockers, causing her to fall. She sat up and put her back to some lockers as she stared wide eyed at the thing that chased her. The thing was a large monster…it was the alpha.

The alpha advanced toward Riley showing its teeth and growling. She closed her eyes and waited for it to attack but nothing happened. She opened her eyes and gasped because it was still there looking at her. The alpha lunged for her throat causing Riley to scream but still the attack didn't happen. She felt the alpha sniff her neck.

There was a noise down the hall that caught the alpha's attention before it ran off in the opposite direction of the noise, leaving Riley sitting on the floor, frozen in fear. She didn't know how long she sat there but knew that she had to get up.

Just then she felt a hand on her shoulder and she began to scream. However, she found that she couldn't because someone put a hand over her mouth.

"It's us, it's us," Scott said before removing his hand. Riley saw Scott in front of her and Stiles standing behind him, "Riley, what are you doing here?" he asked.

"I got a text from Derek telling me to meet him here," she said.

"What?" Stiles asked.

"It was here," Scott said, "The alpha?" he asked as he helped her stand up.

"Yeah, up close and personal," she said.

"Did he bite you?" Scott asked while feeling around for a mark.

"No, I'm fine…he just sniffed me," she said, looking at Scott.

"He sniffed you?" Stiles asked.

"That's what I said," she said, "Where's Derek?"

Scott and Stiles shared a look.

They all heard a wolf howl.

"We better move," Scott said.

"We are trying to find a place with fewer windows," Stiles said.

They started to walk as Riley followed them, "Why not just get out?" she asked.

"He secured all the exits out of here," Stiles said.

"I got in just fine on the west wing. The door was propped open like an invitation," she said.

"It's a trap with only one way in or out of the school," Scott said.

Riley looked around her, "And the best bet is to hide in the boys locker room," she said.

"Less windows," Stiles said.

"No escape," she said irritated.

"Call your dad," Scott told Stiles.

"And tell him what?" Stiles asked.

"Anything…gas leek or fire or whatever. If that thing sees a bunch of cop cars in the parking lot, it's going to take off," Scott said.

"Or it's an open buffet," Riley said.

"Including my dad," Stiles said.

"They have guns," Scott said.

"And Derek had to be shot with a wolf lased bullet to even slow him down, remember that?" Stiles asked sarcastically.

"Speaking of, where's Derek?" Riley asked.

"He couldn't have sent you the text message," Scott said, "Why would he tell you to come here? It's dangerous."

"Then who sent it?" she asked. No one answered, "The alpha. Why?"

"To cut off loose ends of Derek," Stiles said.

"Okay, but that still doesn't explain where Derek is," she said.

"You didn't see him on your way in," Stiles said, receiving an elbow to the chest from Scott.

"I didn't see anybody," she said, "Can you tell me what's going on?"

Scott sighed, "The alpha killed Derek," he said gently.

"Well, we think the alpha did," Stiles said.

"Well, either the alpha did or didn't," she said, a little panicked.

"We don't know for sure," Scott said.

Riley sighed, "Awesome," she said before sitting down on the bench.

"We have to find a way out and just run for it," Scott said.

"There's nothing around the school for at least a mile," Stiles said.

"What about Derek's car?" Scott asked.

"We go and get the keys off of Derek's body," Stiles made a disgusted noise, "And then take his car."

"And him," Scott said.

"Fine," Stiles agreed.

"That won't be necessary. For one, I didn't see him out there," she said.

"It's dark," Stiles said.

"I didn't see him out there," she said more forceful, "And I have my car," showing them the keys.

"That will work. Let's go," Scott said, walking to the other exit.

Stiles reached for the door when Scott suddenly stopped him, "Hide," he whispered. Stiles reached for a locker and made a loud noise.

"Smooth," Riley whispered.

Stiles got into a locker with Scott and Riley following on the other row of lockers. It turned out it was the night shift janitor. After things calmed down, the janitor told them to leave and as he was pushing the three of them out of the locker room he was grabbed from behind. The door shut and the janitor screamed as they saw his silhouette and blood on the window before taking off down the hallway to get away.

They stopped running for a while.

"I really don't like this game of cat and mouse," Riley complained, "With us being the mouse."

"I don't want to die here," Stiles said.

"We need to figure out a plan because I agree with Stiles," she said.

"You agree with me," Stiles said.

"We're not going to die here," Scott said.

"What does it want?" Stiles asked.

"Me," Scott said, "Derek said it's stronger with a pack."

"Great, a psychotic wolf that's into team work. That's beautiful," Stiles said.

Riley looked outside the window they were walking by, "Ah, guys," she said.

Scott and Stiles looked and saw the alpha on the roof of the other building.

"Run!" Scott shouted as he grabbed Riley's arm. They could hear the alpha crashing in through the window behind them but none of them dared to look back. Scott led the way down the hall and staircase to another floor, never letting go of Riley's arm.

They were soon running out of places to hide. Riley didn't recognize where they were.

"We need to do something," Stiles said.

"Like what?" Scott asked.

"I don't know, kill it. Hurt it. Mental anguish on it. I don't know, something," Stiles rambled off.

"Well," Riley put a hand on Stiles' back, "Get to it," she said while pushing him a little.

"Not funny," Stiles complained. There was a loud noise and they all jumped, "Definitely not funny," he said.

Stiles looked inside an empty, small room and removed his keys from his pocket. He threw them into the room and pushed Scott and Riley away as the alpha ran into the room. Stiles shut the door and they moved a desk to block the door from opening.

"Not a bad idea," Riley admitted, "Can we get out of here now?"

"We have to go that way," Scott pointed. He and Riley were on the wrong side of the desk.

"Come on," Stiles said.

Scott and Stiles helped Riley get over the desk before Scott joined them on the other side.

Stiles started to look through the little door window, "What are you doing?" Scott asked.

"I just want to get a look at it," Stiles said.

"That's like poking an angry lion with a stick," Riley said.

"Its trapped, it's not going to get out," Stiles said.

"What do you honestly have to prove by doing this?" she asked.

The alpha growled and hit the door, "I'm not scared of you. We are not scared of you," Stiles said, "You are stuck in there while we are out here. You are not going," there was a loud crashing sound, "anywhere."

The three of them looked up toward the ceiling because they heard movement as some of the ceiling tiles started to collapse.

"I honesty hate you right now," Riley told Stiles before they started to run again.

When they thought they lost the alpha once again, they started to walk, "Did you hear that?" Scott asked.

"What?" Stiles asked, causing Riley to look around for the alpha.

"It sounds like a phone ringing," Scott said, "I know that ring. It's Allison's phone."

"She's here?" Riley asked.

"I need to call her," Scott said.

"You can use mine," Riley said, digging through her pockets, "I think I dropped it somewhere."

"Am I the only teenager who is attached to the hip with their phone," Stiles said, giving it to Scott.

Scott dialed Allison's number, "It's Scott, where are you?"

…

"Where are you right now?"

…

"Where exactly?"

…

"Get to the lobby. Go now," Scott said before hanging up, "We're meeting her." They walked to the lobby just as Allison arrived, "Why did you come? What are you doing here?" he asked.

"Cause you asked me too," Allison said confused.

"Did you get a text message from Scott?" Riley asked.

"Yeah," she said.

"I got one too, but not from Scott," Riley said.

"Why do I have the feeling that you didn't send it to me?" Allison asked.

"Cause I didn't," Scott said.

"What is going on here?" Allison asked Riley.

"It's…I don't know," Riley said.

"Did you drive here?" Stiles asked.

"Jackson did," Allison said.

"Jackson is here!" Scott said.

"And Lydia," Allison said.

"It's like my own personal nightmare tonight," Riley whispered.

Allison's phone rang and she answered it, "Where are you?"

A door opened and in walked Jackson and Lydia, "Finally, can we go now?" Lydia asked once she saw Allison, "Was there a freak show club meeting tonight?" she asked once she saw Riley.

"And the president of the club just showed up," Riley said.

There was a noise coming from the ceiling, causing everyone to stop talking and look up.

"Run!" Scott shouted as the group ran away from the lobby.

They ran into the cafeteria and blocked the door they entered through with an ice machine and chairs. Once that was finished, "Now, what do we do about the 20 feet of windows?" Stiles asked.

They all looked and started to panic, "Can someone please explain to me what is going on because I am freaking out here. And I'd like to know why," Allison said, "Scott?"

Scott didn't know what to say and walked away from Allison. Jackson, Lydia and Allison waited for an explanation since they had no idea what was really going on at the school. Riley even received some looks from them, "I am just as confused as anyone else here," she said.

"Someone killed the janitor," Stiles said, getting everyone's attention.

"What?" Lydia squeaked.

"Yeah, the janitor is dead," Stiles said.

"What is he talking about?" Allison asked while looking back at Scott, "Is this a joke?"

"Who killed him?" Jackson asked.

"No, this is supposed to be over. The mountain lion…" Lydia said.

"No, don't you get it? There wasn't a mountain lion," Jackson said.

"Something like that," Riley said.

"Who was it?" Allison asked, "What does he want?"

Riley pulled Allison into a hug to comfort her. Allison kept on looking at Scott for answers.

"Scott!" Allison shouted.

"I don't know," Scott said for the first time, "If we go out there he is going to kill us."

"Us?" Lydia asked, "He's going to kill us?"

"Who?" Allison asked again.

Riley let go of Allison, "Scott doesn't have all the answers," Riley spoke up, "So leave him alone."

"We weren't asking you," Jackson said to her.

"We already know that you don't have all the answers," Lydia said.

"It's Derek…Derek Hale," Scott answered.

"It's…what?" Riley asked.

"Derek killed the janitor?" Jackson asked.

"Are you sure?" Allison asked.

"No, he's not," Riley said.

"I saw him," Scott said.

"The mountain lion," Lydia said.

"No, Derek killed them," Scott said.

"All of them?" Allison asked.

"No, Scott doesn't know what he's talking about," Riley said.

"Why are you defending Derek Hale?" Jackson asked.

Riley didn't say anything.

"He's in here with us. It's been Derek this whole time. Starting with his sister," Scott said.

Riley walked up to Scott and slapped him across the face. Scott looked at Riley angrily while Stiles dragged her away from Scott before he could hurt her, "Stop making it up," she said.

"Why would he make it up?" Allison asked.

Riley still didn't have an answer.

"Call the cops," Jackson said to Stiles.

"No," Stiles answered.

"He can't," Riley said.

"What do you mean 'no'?" Jackson asked.

"I mean no. Do you want to here it in Spanish? _No_," Stiles said, receiving glares from everyone, "Derek killed three people," Riley glared at him, "Supposedly killed three people. We don't know what he's armed with."

"Your dad is armed with an entire sheriff department, call him," Jackson demanded.

"I'm calling," Lydia said, getting out her phone.

"Just wait a second," Stiles said while trying to stop her but Jackson pushed him away from Lydia.

Lydia dialed the number and they all waited, "Yes we are at Beacon Hills High School, we're trapped and we need you to…But," she had a confused look on her face and hung up, "She hung up on me."

"The police hung up on you," Allison said.

"She said that they got a tip that there were going to be prank calls about a break in at the high school. She said if I called again that they would have it traced and have me arrested," Lydia said.

"Call again," Allison told her.

Riley pulled Scott off to the side, "So, what exactly was that a second ago? Blaming everything on Derek?" she asked.

"I panicked. I didn't know what to say. Allison just looked at me and she needed an answer," Scott said.

"If he's alive, the cops are going to be after him and then he can't do what he came back to Beacon Hills to do. You just made everything a hundred times worse for him," Riley said.

"You don't even know what he came back to do," he accused.

"I know enough because I trust him," she said.

"Revenge can only get you so far before it kills you," he said.

Riley looked at Scott. She knew he was right, "It's something he has to do, Scott. Wouldn't you?" she asked.

"Even if it meant killing people?" he asked.

"He's not the one doing the killing," she said.

"Why is Derek doing this? Why is he killing anyone?" they heard Allison ask.

Riley and Scott look over at Allison. They were all looking at Scott, "Why is everyone looking at me?" he asked.

"Is he the one who sent her the text?" Lydia asked.

"I'm not the only one who got one," Allison said, looking at Riley.

"Did he send them?" Lydia asked again.

"No, I mean, I don't know," Scott said.

"Is he the one who called the police?" Allison asked.

"I don't know," Scott shouted.

Riley put a hand on his shoulder to calm him down. Allison looked hurt because Scott yelled at her. Stiles took Scott off to the side, leaving Riley to answer questions.

"How do you know Derek?" Lydia asked.

"I don't," Riley lied.

"Yes, you do," Allison said, "You told me that you knew him."

"That was when we were kids years ago, it doesn't mean anything now," Riley said.

"Well, it means enough for you to get a text to show up here tonight," Jackson said. He got emaciate, "Okay, ass heads!" he said to Scott and Stiles, "New plan. Stiles calls his useless dad and has him send someone with a gun and decent aim. Are you good with that?"

"If we want to get out of here alive, we have to do something now. It might be our only chance," Riley said.

"They're right," Scott said, "Tell him the truth if you have to. Just call him."

Stiles didn't make a move to make that call.

"Give me that phone," Jackson said, stepping forward. Stiles punched him in the face. Allison went to his aid.

"That was freaking awesome!" Riley said, getting Stiles' attention, "I bet that felt good," she had a big smile on her face.

Allison looked to Stiles and Riley lost her smile. Stiles gave in and called his dad, "Hey, dad it's me…And it's your voice mail…Look I need you to call me back, like right now," he said. Just then there was a loud banging noise coming from the other side of the cafeteria door they blocked off. The six of them started to back away from the door, "Dad, we are at the school. We are at the school," he said into the phone before hanging up. The door was rattling off the hinges and the banging noise grew louder. Riley reached for Stiles' arm just as he stood in front of her, "The kitchen. The door out of the kitchen that leads to the stairs," he said.

"Which only leads up," Scott said.

"Up is better than here," Stiles said.

"Up it is then," Riley said just as the group turned to leave. Stiles pushed Riley to follow Scott and Allison out of the cafeteria.

They ran to the kitchen and found the staircase that lead up. They ran into another hallway full of classrooms. Lydia opened a chemistry classroom and they hid inside. They stayed quiet as the alpha walked by the classroom.

"Jackson, how many people can fit in your car?" Scott asked.

"Five," Jackson said, "If someone sits on someone's lap."

"That won't work," Allison spoke up, "I can barely sit in the back seat."

"We can split up and take my car too. That might actually work better and then we can get the hell out of Dodge," Riley said.

"It doesn't matter," Stiles said, "We can't get out without drawing attention."

"What about this?" Scott asked, pointing to a door that leads to the roof, "This leads to the roof. We can go down the fire escape and then to the parking lot in like seconds. We take two cars," he said.

Scott and Stiles went on talking about needing a key which only the dead janitor might have on him. The plan was for Scott to take a homemade bomb with him for protection, which Lydia provided instructions on how to make. Scott would retrieve the key off the janitor, come back and they all would make a run for the cars. Allison and Lydia would go with Jackson. Scott and Stiles would go with Riley. From the school they would drive to the sheriff department. Riley didn't think they should split up but she knew Scott would be able to get the key faster without them following him.

"You need to be careful," Riley told Scott while they waited for Lydia to finish.

"I will," Scott said.

"No, I'm serious. You need to be careful for Allison. She is already on overload and if this thing goes wrong…I think you know what could happen," she said.

"Keep an eye on her while I'm gone," he said.

"I really didn't like the sound of that," she said, tears forming in her eyes.

"I need you to keep it together, okay?" he asked.

"I'll try," she said, wiping them off her face, "You just worry about coming back safe, okay? I don't want the possibility of also losing a best friend tonight," Scott gave her a face, "Don't act surprised. I may have acted cold toward you when we started to work together last year but that has changed. If you haven't noticed, I don't have a lot of friends and besides Allison I only have you."

Scott took Riley into his arms, "You're one of mine too," he said, "I promise I will be careful."

She pushed away from him, "You better. And if you happen to run into Derek, tell him to get his ass up here before I'm the one having the meltdown."

"It's ready," Lydia said, getting their attention.

Riley walked away from Scott so that Allison could have a moment with him. She watched them kiss. After Scott left the classroom, Riley comforted Allison. They waited for a long time for Scott to come back with the key. The good news was that the alpha didn't come back; the bad news was the way Jackson looked at Allison while they waited for Scott to return. After all, that is her best friend's girl.

At one point, they all heard a loud noise that sounded like an animal. They couldn't figure out where it was coming from. Jackson had some kind of reaction to the noise. He doubled over in pain. Riley saw marks on his neck, she got Stiles' attention, and he saw them too. Once Jackson was okay and standing again, Stiles asked about them but Jackson didn't give an answer.

"We should go out there to look for Scott," Allison said, "He's been gone for too long."

"He said to stay here," Riley said.

"And I bet you always do what you're told," Jackson said.

"You can't help being a total jackass, can you?" Riley asked.

"Can we not argue for a half a second here?" Stiles asked.

"Where is he? He should be back by now," Allison said.

"He's going to be fine," Riley said.

There was a sound at the door. Allison went to check it out, "Scott?" She couldn't get the door open.

"Did you hear that?" Lydia asked, getting everyone's attention.

There were sirens coming from outside. They went to the window and saw cop cars in the parking lot.

Stiles pulled Riley off to the side, "When they ask about who is responsible, I know you don't want to but you have to say it was Derek," she was about to say something, "If they think it was Derek, then they won't endanger themselves looking for the alpha."

Riley knew Stiles had a point, "Fine, but you realize they are going to ask me other questions about Derek. I have ties to his family," she said.

"That's all that you say then," he said. Just then Stiles' phone rang, "We are in room 303…Yeah, and we will wait for you."

The chemistry classroom door finally opened to reveal Stiles' dad and Scott. Shortly after that there were a lot of questions about what went on at the school. Each of them was questioned separately. Riley answered them with the information that Derek was the one terrorizing them that night. Questions concerning her past with Derek; she answered them short and sweet.

Once they were done questioning her, they told her she could go home. She walked over to Stiles and Scott first.

"My dad told me that they looked everywhere and Derek was no where to be found," Stiles said.

"Yeah, that's what they told me when I asked," she said, "Well, that was fun. I understand why I never signed up for after school activities."

They laughed.

"Well, we survived. We outlasted the alpha. That's good," Stiles said.

"When we were in the chemistry room, you think that he didn't hear us? You don't think that he knew exactly where we were?" Scott asked.

"Then why pass us by?" she asked.

"And leave us alive?" Stiles asked.

"He wants me in his pack…But I think that first I have to get rid of my old pack," Scott said.

Stiles didn't understand at first.

"Oh," she said.

"What do you mean? What old pack?" Stiles asked.

"He means us," she said, "You, me, Allison and the evil twins."

Stiles understood now, "The alpha doesn't want to kill us…"

"He wants me to do it," Scott said, looking away from them.

"The alpha has another thing coming because you are not going to kill for him," she said.

"That's not the worst part," Scott said.

"There's more?" Stiles asked.

"He made me shift and I wanted to do it…To kill all of you," Scott said.

Stiles and Riley looked at Scott stunned, "So, there is trouble in pack paradise?" Riley asked.

Scott didn't say anything but noticed Deaton sitting in the ambulance. They looked at the scene confused. They walked over to talk to him. They found out that he was okay. Stiles' dad told them that they should leave Deaton to rest.

"Riley, you should head on home," the sheriff said.

"I'll talk to you guys later," Riley said, "Did you talk to Allison yet?" she asked Scott.

Scott saw Allison and ran after her.

XXX

Riley got home and locked up more than she usually does. She went to her room expecting to see Derek there waiting for her but he wasn't there. She showered and changed back into her pjs she had on earlier. She sat by her opened window expecting him to show up because that would be the only way into the house. She waited for him.

After a while, she went to bed with the window still propped open for him. She dreamed of Derek that night. She dreamt about the first time they made love. The pain she felt in between her legs the first time he entered her. The kiss on her lips the second he broke through. The sweet whisperings against her neck in the moments after to make her feel comfortable with the new feeling of him. The feelings of ecstasy and excitement, of belonging to him.

It was almost like she was feeling every moment she shared with him that night again. Just like not wanting that night or any night that followed to end; she didn't want the dream to end.

But it did.

Riley woke up the next morning to the sun shining through her closed window. She groaned and flipped over to go back to sleep. She had no intention of going to school that day. When she turned over, she fell onto a hard muscular back. She opened her eyes, alarmed at first. The only thing that calmed her was the black, spiral tattoo in between the shoulder blades. She brought up her hand to trace the tattoo with her index finger. This action caused the back muscles to contract. She stopped what she was doing and watched as he moved to face her. She looked up into his eyes and cupped his cheek, "Derek?" he nodded, "You're okay…I thought…I thought you were dead," she whispered.

"I'm here now," he said.

A tear slid down her face and he wiped it away.

She traced his lips before bringing him down on top of her to kiss him. The feelings she felt in her dreams happened again with Derek.

Several hours later, Riley was in Derek's arms with a sheet covering them.

"Exciting night, last night?" she asked him.

"I wouldn't call it exciting," he said.

She sighed, "The alpha was at the school last night," she said.

"Scott told you?" he asked.

"Not exactly…I got a text from you telling me to meet you at the school," she said.

"You what?" he asked.

"Obviously it didn't come from you…"

Riley told him the whole story of what happened at the school. Even the information that Scott told her at the end of the night about the alpha wanting him to kill his old pack.

"The alpha sniffed you?" he asked.

"That's what I said. He didn't try to bite or tear me to pieces. He just smelled me. The alpha knows that we are together now because he smelled you on me," she said.

"Or," he said.

"Or what? What else could that mean?" she asked.

"Well, why did he use my phone to get you to the school, why not use Scott's phone?" he asked.

Riley thought about it for a few seconds, "You're saying that the alpha already knew that we are together," she said.

"Pretending to be me would bring you to the school faster than pretending to be Scott," he said.

"I hate to admit it but that does make sense," she said.

"I know, I wonder what else the alpha knows," he said.

"What happened to you?" she asked.

"The alpha wounded me. I woke up and ran to the woods before I passed out again," he said, "If I'd have known…"

"You couldn't have known that the son of a bitch was going to take your phone," she said.

"I'm going to get a new one. I won't be texting you; don't do anything unless you hear my voice," he said.

"You are going to have a harder time getting around now since Scott through you under the bus," she said.

"I'm not happy to hear that but it's good that you tell people that it was me," he said.

"I know, I got the speech from Scott and Stiles," she said. She looked up at him, "I guess we are going to have to stay in for a few days until the cops give up on the idea of finding you. I'm going to take a few days off of school because of what happened. So lucky for you, we are both under house arrest."

"Really?" he smirked.

"Really," she smirked back.


	11. Confrontation

Chapter 11

Confrontation

"What are we supposed to do in the mean time?" Derek asked from across the bedroom only wearing his jeans.

In her bathrobe, Riley was gathering up the bed clothing, "Do something normal for once. I don't know," she said.

He came up behind her and wrapped his arms around her, "I thought we were doing something normal," he said before kissing her neck. She relaxed against him, dropping the sheets to the floor, "We don't need the sheets," she heard him say.

She snapped out of it and pushed him away, "Something normal other than sex. That's all we did yesterday. These sheets need to be cleaned."

"I repeat, what are we supposed to do in the mean time?" he asked.

She picked up the sheets and put them in the laundry basket, "For one, you can take your pants off," he smirked, "So I could wash them along with the rest of your clothes. My dad should have some of his stuff still here."

He walked over to stand in front of her. Without breaking eye contact, he removed his pants slowly before handing them over to her. Then he turned around to leave the room to walk across the hall. She looked after him amazed and then refocused at the task at hand.

She went down stairs to start a load of laundry. When she turned around to leave, she found someone else other Derek standing in the door way looking at her.

"Mom?" Riley questioned.

Her mom came up and hugged her, "I heard about what happened. I wanted to see if you were alright," she said.

"That was almost two days ago. You didn't have to pick yourself off the bar stole because I'm fine. I've always been fine," Riley said angrily after her mom let her go.

Her mom turned around and saw Derek standing there in her ex husbands clothes, "I see you're fine," she said before walking past him into the kitchen.

Riley watched her mom leave and then looked at Derek as he was giving her a worried look. She didn't say anything as she tightened her robe to follow her mom into the kitchen.

"I see you've kept up with the house and moved everything around. Where's the coffee?" her mom asked while opening up cabinets.

"I got rid of all your booze the day you left, so stop looking," Riley said causing her mom to stop and lean up against the counter.

"Are you going to introduce us?" she asked, referring to Derek you stopped behind Riley.

"No. Why are you here?" Riley asked.

"I was worried about you, and I missed you," her mom said.

"Why bother?" Riley asked, "You stopped being mother of the year a long time."

Her mother just looked at her, "Well, I see your fine with the choice of the week. I can let myself out," she said before stopping at Riley's side, "I'm going to sell the house soon. I need the money."

Once Riley heard the front door shut, she moved to retrieve a glass to get some water. She took a sip and a few second later, she threw the glass against a wall shattering it into pieces.

"How can she do that? It used to be her house but it's my home. I don't want to go anywhere else," Riley cried as she crumbled to the ground.

Derek went to her side, "We'll figure something out, I promise," he said, "Let's do something normal," helping her up.

He turned on the TV in the living and the sat down together watching it. After a while, Derek made them breakfast.

The washer bell went off, "I'm going to take a shower," she said after moving the wet clothes into the dryer, "You want to join me because you need one too."

He smiled, "Do I smell?"

"Yes, you do," she laughed.

XXX

Two days later, Riley decided it was time to go back to school.

"Is Scott going back to school?" Derek asked that morning.

"I think so, why?" Riley asked.

"Tonight is the full moon. It's the first one since the school. He's going to be edgy, so be careful," he said.

"Do you think the alpha might try something tonight?" she asked.

"Anything is possible, that's why I have to get back out there. I enjoyed our little vacation," he smirked.

"I bet you did. It was nice to relax for a few days. Well, besides the visit from my mother," she said, "The next time you see her, I give you permission to eat her."

He laughed, "I hope it doesn't come down to that. Don't worry about it."

"Its kind of hard not to, but I'll try," she looked at the time, "I better go or I'll be late. Lock up when you leave," she kissed him.

"I will," he said.

XXX

Riley saw Allison get out of a red SUV, "Allison!" she called.

Allison waited for her. Riley walked by the SUV and saw Allison's dad and a woman staying at her.

"How are you?" Riley asked.

"I'm a little bit better that I can go back to school. I was stuck at home for days. You?" Allison asked.

"I did too. My boss gave me a few days off to rest and I stayed in bed most of the time," she smiled.

"You sound like you had a better time than me," Allison said, "Have you talked to Stiles' dad?"

"No, but I imagine its going to happen soon," she said.

"Do you want to hang out after school?" Allison asked.

"Sure. The mall?" she asked.

"Sorry, where else is there in this town. I have to go home first; can you come and get me?" Allison asked.

"Of course," she said.

XXX

Riley was in the middle of government when an office aid came to pull her out of class, "The sheriff would like to speak with you. He's in the library waiting for you," the girl said.

"Thank you," Riley said before walking to the library and finding the sheriff, "How's Stiles?" she asked as she sat down.

"He's fine. How are you?" he asked.

"I'm great. How's the search for Derek Hale?" she asked.

"I'm the one asking questions here," he said.

"Am I in trouble?" she asked.

"No, of course not. You gave your statement the other night but no one has followed up. Other witnesses are saying that you know Derek Hale. Have you seen him recently?" he asked.

"Witnesses? You mean the evil twins, Lydia and Jackson. What a surprise? They say something different," she said.

"Why would they?" he asked.

"Everyone witnesses an event differently and we don't like each other," she said.

"In their statement, they said that you know Derek Hale," he stated.

"It came up that I knew him a long time ago. His mother used to baby sit me. Most people know that I was at the Hale fire, even you should know that I have ties to the family…considering," she said.

"Did you see him at the school?" he asked.

"Not that night but I did see him at school once or twice," she answered.

"Was that the only time?" he asked.

"Of course," she said.

"He hasn't tempted to make contact with you?" he asked.

"Why would he? We don't have anything to talk about. The only thing we have in common is the fire," she said.

"Sometimes that might be enough," he said, "Riley; you're nineteen, an adult. I can't help you if you're not telling be everything."

"There's nothing to tell," she looked at him, "Is that all? I should get back to class. We have a test tomorrow and I don't want to miss out on notes," she said.

"Of course," he said, "If there are anymore questions, I know where to find you."

"Awesome," she said before heading back to class.

Heading back to class, Riley saw Stiles and ran to catch him, "We need to talk," she said, grabbing his arm.

"I was on my way to find Scott," Stiles said, looking worried.

"What happened?" she asked.

"He left chemistry in the middle of class. I think something might be wrong," he said.

"It is the full moon tonight," she said.

"That's what I'm afraid of," he said.

Riley followed him to the boys' locker room. They found Scott in the showers, with pants on under running water. He shut the water off when he noticed them. His breathing was heavy, "Stiles…I can't…"

"Are you changing?" Stiles asked.

Riley smacked him over the head, "Does it look like he's changing?"

"No…I can't breath," Scott said.

"Does he have asthma?" she asked, trying to support him.

"Not anymore," Scott said.

Stiles retrieved an inhaler from a bag and handed it to him, "Just try it," Stiles said.

Scott used it and began to breathe normal again, "I was having an asthma attack," Scott said.

"No, you were having a panic attack. You thinking it were an asthma attack made you stop. Irony," Stiles said.

"Reverse psychology, really?" Riley asked.

"It worked for me when I used to get them after my mom died," Stiles explained.

"What happened?" she asked.

"I just looked at her and I felt like I was hit by a hammer," Scott said.

"That's what happened when you break up. There's like a million of songs written about it," Stiles said.

"I didn't know you guys broke up. I'm sorry. Allison didn't say anything earlier," she said.

"I can't stop thinking about her," Scott said.

"You can think about this. Her dad is a werewolf hunter and you're a werewolf," Stiles said, getting a look from the pair of them, "That didn't help."

"I can feel what everyone else is feeling. Everything is heightened," Scott explained.

"Must be the full moon," Stiles said, "We'll lock you up in your room like we planned."

"That reminds me. Derek said you have to be careful. The alpha might try something tonight," Riley said, "Maybe locking him in his room isn't a good idea."

"What else am I supposed to do?" Scott asked.

"I don't know," she said.

"What does Derek do?" Stiles asked.

"I don't know," she said.

"Do you talk about anything?" Stiles asked.

"It's never come up. I'm afraid to ask about it. I'm sure he has a plan to follow for full moons," she said, "Your dad questioned me about Derek."

"What did you say?" Scott asked.

"Don't worry. I stuck to the story, but he really questioned me about being in contact with Derek," she said.

"Well, you have," Stiles said.

Riley rolled her eyes.

"Have you seen him?" Scott asked, "I haven't seen him since that night."

"He showed up at my house after I went to bed. He's being staying at my house since," she said.

"Hiding out?" Stiles asked.

"And among other thing, which is not of our concern," she said, "I better get back to class."

XXX

Riley drove herself home and found Derek in the kitchen, "You stayed the whole day?" she asked.

"I went out this morning but cops were everywhere," he said.

She kissed him, "What are you going to do about tonight?" she asked.

"What I always do on the full moon. I just have to be more careful," he said.

"Which is?" she asked.

"I go out into the woods. It's not safe to be locked up somewhere. It makes you more aggressive," he explained.

"Oh boy, that's Scott's plan tonight. To be locked up in his room with Stiles on guard," she said.

"That's an accident waiting to happen. I'll have to check on him. Its just one more thing I have to do tonight," he said.

"I'm sorry," she said.

"It's not your fault," he said while walking toward her. He looked at her hungrily and he captured her lips. He pushed her up onto the counter and started to rip off her clothes. Riley felt like she was on fire. The heat coming between them was unbelievable. It was only feeding their passion for each other even more. She was working on unzipping his pants when he stopped her and stepped away from her, "Sorry," he said breathlessly.

She hopped off the counter and pulled her pants back on, "Why did you stop?" she asked.

He took in her shirtless appearance before him and reached out to touch a scratch made by him, "The full moon changes sexual desires and wants. I almost lost control," he explained.

"Oh…that was the wolf?" she asked.

"That was just a taste of him," he said.

"And what if I want to meet him," she said, locking eye contact with him.

"It's too dangerous for you," he said.

Seeing that Derek wanted to change the subject, "I talked to the sheriff today. He asked questions about how I know you and if I have seen you."

Derek smiled as he put his shirt back on, "And what did you say?"

"I haven't seen you," she smiled, "I'm going to hang out with Allison tonight, and before you say anything…we are going to the mall for an hour or two before it gets dark."

"As long you are back here before dark," he said.

"I have to go pick her up," she said.

"You might want to change first," he suggested.

Riley looked down at her now ruined shirt, she laughed, "I liked this shirt."

XXX

Riley knocked on Allison's front door and a woman with long hair answered it, "I'm a friend of Allison. I'm picking her up to go to the mall," she said.

"You must be Riley. She said you would be here soon. Would you like to come in?" the woman asked.

"Sure," Riley walked in.

"I'm Kate, Allison's aunt," she said, holding out her hand.

"Oh, yes, I've heard about you," Riley said.

"I hope Derek has told you great things about me," Kate said. Riley looked at her, "With that look on your face, I can only guess that you know what he is," she didn't say anything, "And you still have sex with him. Aren't you afraid that you're going to get some kind of wolf STD? There's no point in denying it, I can smell it on you," she said, stepping lose to sniff Riley's neck.

"Why be so open about it?" Riley asked.

"I could be around the bush but I wanted you to know that I know who you are and what you mean to Derek. I know your past, present and future," Kate said.

"So, you're a fortune teller now?" Riley asked.

"No, I just know this outcome. I always win," Kate said before pulling her shirt down around her neck to reveal the burn scars.

Riley pushed her away, "This isn't a game. Derek is a person," she said.

"Derek is a monster," Kate said, "Oh my god, you're in love with him. It's written all over your face. I bet the sex is fantastic."

"Tell Allison I'm sorry. We have to hang out another night. I don't feel well," Riley said, heading for the door.

"I'm sorry to hear that," Kate called behind her.

XXX

Riley went home, hoping to catch Derek before he left for the night. When she got home, he was already gone. She tried his cell phone but he didn't respond. She spent the next several hours waiting for him to get back.

When Derek got back to the house, Riley jumped into his arms, "Is something wrong?" he asked.

"I met Kate when I went to pick up Allison. I didn't like what we were talking about. It made me sick," she said.

"What did Kate tell you?" he asked.

Riley revealed their entire conversation, Derek seemed to relax a little bit, "I told Scott I would help him capture the alpha for he could kill it," she waited for an explanation, "If Scott kills the alpha, it'll cure him."

"To kill the one that bite you?' she asked.

"Yes," he said.

"Will it work?" she asked.

"For his sake, I hope it does."


	12. Our World is Getting Smaller

Chapter 12

Our World is Getting Smaller

Riley got home after school and checked the mailbox. With her bag over her shoulder, she walked back to the house and checked the mail as she went. She unlocked the door and stopped dead in her tracks. There was an envelope addressed to her from the family attorney.

'_Dear Miss Riley Goodwin,_

_I am to notify you, under the request of Jennifer Goodwin; you have 30 dates as of this date to relocate yourself and belongings to a new location. The property in question will go up for sale at the end of the 30 days under the request of Mrs. Goodwin._

_The following pages will explain the legal proceedings that took place._

_Thank you,_

_J. Whitman'_

Riley stood frozen in the door way. She couldn't believe what she just read. She dropped the envelope, the other mail, and her bag on the inside table just by the door. She turned around to go back outside and ran her hands through her hair. She saw her mother's flower pots lined up along the sidewalk. She took the first one she saw into her hands and through the pot as far as she could into the street. She picked up another one and made to do the same thing she did to the first one but dropped in on her foot. She shouted a curse word and wobbled back to the front porch to sit down, running her hands through her hair.

"Riley, are you okay?"

She looked up and saw her neighbor, Erica, looking at her concerned from her drive way.

"I'm fine…I was trying to rearrange the flowers," Riley said.

"In the middle of the road?" Erica asked.

"Yes, it's a European thing," Riley shouted a little.

Erica turned toward her house and left Riley alone.

Riley breathed in heavy, "Oh my God," she cried into her hands.

After a few minutes, she went inside her house but only made it as far as the couch in the living room because her foot hurt too much.

She sat there and felt her phone vibrate. She got another text from Allison.

**So you think I should forgive Scott?**

The text message read. She had been texting Allison all day about this issue. Riley replied.

**Do whatever you want. It's not my choice.**

A few seconds later, she got a reply. Riley picked up her phone and aimed to throw it as the wall in front of her. Just before she could, she felt a hand on her arm. She looked behind her and saw that it was Derek. He took the phone from her and saw that she received a text from Allison.

"Romeo and Juliet getting you down," he teased.

She rolled her eyes, "I wish they would leave me out of it. It's not my problem they broke up, but they keep asking me if the other asked about them. I can't take it anymore," she said.

Derek sat down beside her on the couch about to say something when he looked down at her right leg, "You hurt yourself," he said.

She couldn't look at him, "Just add it to the list of problems that is called 'My Life'," she said.

"What happened?" he asked.

"Nothing," she said as she got up, "Ow!" she cried and sat back down.

Derek grabbed her chin to force her to look at him, "Don't make me ask again."

"I got an envelope in the mail. It's by the door," she said, watching him get up to retrieve it. She watched him as he read the letter, "And I fail at redecorating."

Derek looked outside and saw the flower arrangement. He walked over to her and kneeled down before her. As gently as he could he untied her shoe and removed it along with the sock. He heard her protest the whole time.

He gently touched her foot with his fingers, "Derek," she cried.

He stopped to look up at her, "Be quiet," he ordered. He continued to rub her foot gently. Riley felt her pain slip away, "I don't think anything is broken," he put her foot down and disappeared in the kitchen. He returned with an ice pack, "Lay down," he said. Riley turned to lie down on the couch. Derek picked up her legs to sit down to hold them. He placed the ice pack on her injured foot and held it there for her, "You should be more careful. You're lucky you didn't break anything."

"I'm sorry," she said.

"I feel sorrier for the flowers," he replied.

She smirked, "It caught me off guard."

"I know," he said.

"I can't believe she's doing this to me. It's my house more than hers," she said.

"I'll think of something."

XXX

Derek walked into a diner outside of town carrying a large bag. He walked to the back of the place, looking for someone. He found her waiting on him.

"You're late," Mrs. Goodwin said.

"It took sometime to get the agreed amount," Derek said, "Do you have the papers?"

"I do. I want to see the money before I sign," she said.

He slid the large bag on the floor to her, "It's all there."

"I know it is," she said, "If it wasn't, I would be going to the police and telling them where they could find Derek Hale."

"So we good?" he asked.

Mrs. Goodwin signed the papers, "She could do better than you."

"I'll let Riley decide that," he said before walking away with the deed of the house.

XXX

Riley came home after school to find Derek had laid out a meal for them on the table.

"What's this?" she asked.

"Food," he replied.

"I know that but we usually just order Chinese or pizza," she said.

"It's to celebrate," he said.

"Celebrate?"

"I have something for you," he handed her the deed.

"This is the deed. For the house," she said after looking at it, "Why do you have it?"

"Your mother named a price," he said, watching her face.

"And you just gave it to her," she said, sitting down at the table, "It had to have been a lot of money."

"Don't worry about that," he said.

"Don't worry?!"

"I don't care about money. It was worth every penny," he said.

She stared at him, "You bought my house?"

"Yes."

"You bought my house," she said.

"Yes," he laughed. He pulled out a pen, "Once you sign this, the house is yours."

She took the pen from him, "You bought my house," she whispered before signing the deed.

"Its all yours now," he said.

"But why?" she looked up.

"Because its you," he replied.

She got up and walked over to him, "You bought our home," she said, resting a hand on his chest.

He looked down into her eyes questioningly before kissing her softly.

Dinner was forgotten as Derek picked Riley up in his arms and carried her upstairs.

XXX

A few days later, Riley woke up in a heavy sweat from a recurring nightmare about the fire. She hadn't had the nightmare for a while, but it came back full force. She sat up and realized Derek wasn't in bed with her. She reached for her phone to call him. He didn't pick up. She sighed as she got up to open up her window to let in some fresh air.

After a while, she turned when she heard her phone go off. She got a text message from Scott.

**Meet me at lunch tomorrow. I need your help with something.**

She didn't reply.

Something was going on and she was being kept out of the loop.

"Why aren't you asleep?" Derek asked from behind her.

"I had a nightmare…about the fire," she said quietly, knowing he could hear her.

He approached her, "Do you want to talk about it?" he asked as he rubbed her shoulders.

"No," she said.

He pulled her back to the bed and had her sit in between his legs with his back to the wall, "I was so close to the alpha tonight."

"What happened?" she asked.

"The alpha went after a guy named Harris at the school," he said.

She turned to look at him, "Why a teacher?"

"I don't know. He might know something. The last time I spoke to Laura, she gave me his name," he said, getting out a piece of paper, "Something about this necklace."

"Allison's necklace?"

"You've seen it?" he asked.

"Yeah, she doesn't take it off. She got it from her bitch of an aunt. I can ask her more about it, if it's that important," she said.

"No, I want you to stay away from this. Scott is going to take care of it," he said.

"How much did Laura find out about the fire?"

"I don't know. If she kept notes, they are gone. I think she was close to finding out something," he said. Riley yawned, "You should get some sleep. You have school."

She sighed, "Just a few more months and I am done. No more evil twins," she said.

XXX

Riley was closing her locker the next day when Jackson approached her.

"Riley, Riley, Riley," he said.

"Jackass, Jackass, Jackass," she said back, "What do you want?"

"You obviously know a lot more about Derek then you let on," he said, "Do you know where I can find him?"

"Try a few states over," she said, trying to side step him but he wouldn't let her.

Jackson ran a finger down her arm, "I think you do know where I can find him. I also think that you know what he is," she looked at him, "Because he knows a lot about you," he said while rubbing the back of his neck, "You know how I can become just like him."

"The crack you took this morning is seriously messing with your brain," she said.

He pushed her to the locker, "Just pass on the message," he walked away from her.

She made her way to lunch to find Scott. She found him sitting with Stiles. She sat down across from Scott, "Do you want to tell me why Jackson assaulted me and then asked about where he can find Derek?"

"He what?" Scott asked.

"He knows about Derek. And I'm guessing he knows about you," she said.

"Why would he confront you?" Stiles asked.

"I don't know. But it better not happen again or I'm seriously going to deck him," she said.

"I might actually enjoy that," Stiles smiled.

"If he does it again, tell me," Scott said.

"Did you get the necklace?" Stiles asked Scott.

"Not exactly," Scott said.

"What happened?" Stiles asked.

"Is this the same necklace Derek mentioned?" she asked.

"Yeah, we might need your help getting it" he said, "I tried talking to Allison and she wouldn't listen."

"Time for plan B," Stiles announced.

"What's plan B?" Scott asked.

"Coming from him, probably a bad one," Riley said.

Stiles ignored her comment, "Just steal the stupid thing."

"That might work," she said.

"Thank you," Stiles said.

"With some more planning," she said.

"Couldn't we try at least getting to Harris?" Scott asked.

"My dad put him on a twenty-four detail. The necklace is all we got. Steal it," Stiles said before taking a big bite of a chicken strip.

"That looks good," she said, "Can I have one?" she reached for one.

Stiles slapped her hand away, "Get your own."

Scott gave Riley one as he looked over her shoulder and noticed something, "He's watching us. Act normal."

"Might be hard for Stiles," she commented.

"I'm serious," Scott said.

"That was me acting normal," she said.

Scott had a look on his face, "What's wrong?" Stiles asked.

"Jackson is talking to me. He knows I can hear him," Scott said.

"Just calm down, you're being too obvious," Riley said.

Scott panicked and looked at Stiles, "Look normal. Pretend that nothing is happening," Scott said as Riley moved her chair over a little to block Scott from Jackson, "Say something. Talk to me!"

Stiles waved his arms, "I can't think of anything. My mind's a complete blank," he said.

"Surprise," Riley commented.

"Your mind's blank? You can't think of something to say?" Scott asked.

"Not under this kind of pressure," Stiles said before looking over at Jackson's table, "FYI. He's not even sitting there anymore."

Riley looked behind her and couldn't find Jackson, "Where is he?" she asked.

"He's talking to me again," Scott said.

The three of them were silent the next couple of minutes until Scott broke his lunch plate, "I'm going to try to find the necklace before I get you involved and have Derek kill me for it," Scott said to Riley, "If I need you, I'll text," he got up and left Stiles alone with Riley.

"Awesome plan," Stiles commented.

"Good luck tonight at your first game," Riley told him as she took a chicken strip from his plate and walked away from the table.

XXX

Just as school was ending, Riley got a text from Scott.

**I didn't get it.**

She replied.

**What do we do?**

She waited for a response.

**We break into her house.**

The plan was for Scott to break in through Allison's window and for Riley to knock on the door and ask to go in.

Riley didn't think it would work because she actually hadn't been inside the Argents' house. Scott was sure it would work, but he didn't know about the confrontation she had with Kate. Or how facing Kate again made her afraid for some reason.

She pushed that aside as she rang the door bell. As she waited, something occurred to her. If Kate knew about her relationship with Derek, then so do the others. Maybe the girlfriend of a known werewolf knocking on the door where hunters lived wasn't such a good idea. Allison's dad knew who she was. Everyone but, "Mrs. Argent, I'm a friend of Allison's. She has something of mine up in her room. I know she isn't here, but she said I could swing by to get it."

"Sure you can dear. Come right in," Mrs. Argent said, holding the door open for her.

"I'll just be a moment," Riley said.

"Take your time. Do you know where it is?" she asked.

"Yep," Riley said, Thank you."

Riley found Scott already in Allison's room, "Did you find it yet?" she whispered.

"No," Scott said, looking in Allison's jewelry box.

"Did you try her underwear drawer?" she asked.

"Yeah, the first place I looked," he replied.

"Of course," she said while looking through her closet, "I have like minutes before Allison's mom comes up to check on me. Maybe this wasn't a good idea to bring me. You could have done it alone."

"No, I'm glad you're here," he said.

Riley saw that he was looked at something. She walked over at him and saw him hold a piece of paper that said 'First date with Scott', "We don't have time to go down memory lane." Scott put that down and found the necklace as a bookmark in an old book, "You found it great. Let's go." Scott didn't move as he got out his phone, "Now is not the time to Google yourself."

"Be quiet a sec," Scott said.

"Are all werewolves that bossy?" she asked.

"Just go," he said.

"Fine, but if you get caught it's your furry ass. Meet you at the game," she said as she left. She ran into Mrs. Argent, "Found it. She borrowed a pair of my ear rings. Thank you again."

"Glad you could find it," Mrs. Argent said as Riley left the house.

XXX

Riley sat with Scott that night at the lacrosse game, "I'm surprised you're here," he said.

"I couldn't miss Stiles' first game for the world," she said.

"Why are you so mean to him?"

"I'm not mean to him…He just begs me," she said.

"Is it because of the thing with his dad?"

"I'm jealous of him because of his relationship with his dad," she said.

"Wow."

"If you breathe a word of that to him, I'll have Derek kill you," she said.

At that moment, Scott's phone rang, "Did you get the picture?" she heard him ask.

…

"No, the thing's flat. No, it doesn't open. There's nothing in it, on it, or around it. Nothing," he replied, "And where are you? You're supposed to be here. You're first line."

"Where the hell is Bilinski?" the coach asked Scott, "What is she doing here? Only the players sit here."

"Sorry, I'll move," Riley said.

Riley heard yelling on the other end of the phone. Scott looked at her, "Derek wants to talk to you."

"Hello?"

"_What are you doing there?"_ Derek asked.

"I'm at the game supporting Stiles," she said.

"_Stiles isn't even there,"_ he said.

"I came here to talk to Scott after we…"

"_After you what?"_

"Stole…Allison's necklace," she said.

"_I told you not to get involved."_

"I wanted to help with something. You can't always keep me in the dark," she said.

"_We'll talk about this later."_

Riley handed the phone back to Scott and said to Stiles, "Man, you're not going to play if you're not here to start."

…

Scott hanged up.

"I better go find a seat before your coach kills me," Riley said, getting up. She saw Allison sitting in the stands as she made her way over to her when someone stopped her.

"Well, isn't it little Miss Riley," Kate sneered at her, "Where is your boyfriend these days?"

"Oh, you know out and about," Riley replied.

"Howling at the moon, I bet," Kate said.

"What is your problem?" Riley asked.

Kate looked at her, "It's you little girl. Taking over my scrapes," Riley looked at her confused, "Sloppy seconds aren't always the best, but it's better than nothing." Riley didn't say anything as she stared at her as Kate's meaning came to light, "Watching the look on your face as you're figuring it out is priceless. I feel dirty sometimes thinking about what I had to do to earn his trust, but then other times it gets me excited thinking about what he is capable of in the sack. So like I said before, you can have your wolf sloppy seconds," she turned to leave.

"At one time, it was good enough for you," Riley said.

Kate turned around and slapped Riley across the face, "You should watch yourself before I destroy you."

"You think I'm afraid of you?"

"Sweetheart, you should be," Kate said.


	13. The Alpha

Chapter 13

The Alpha

"_You think I'm afraid of you?" _

"_Sweetheart, you should be."_

Riley fought the urge to rub her now inflamed cheek in front of Kate Argent. She looked over Kate's shoulder at Allison, "How would you explain the inflamed cheek to Allison? I think you should find another buddy to sit with. Allison shouldn't be sitting with your kind," Kate leaned in close, "Enjoy your wolf while you can," Kate turned around to walk back up to Allison on the bleachers.

Riley was rooted to her spot for a few seconds before heading back to the direction of where she left Scott last. She sat down next to him without saying anything.

"I thought…" Scott started to say when he noticed her pale face and one of her cheeks were inflamed, "Are you okay?"

"I…I'm sorry but I'm going to miss your game and Stiles' first game, even thought he's not even here. I'm just going to go home," she said before getting up.

Scott grabbed her arm gently, "No…you can't go," he managed to get her to sit down again, "I can't let you go home alone unprotected with…everything that's been going on. Derek would kill me. Just tell me why you're upset."

She sighed, "Kate."

"Kate Argent?" Scott asked.

She rolled her eyes, "God Scott, how many people named Kate do you know?"

"Okay, okay, stupid question. Did she threaten you?" he asked.

"She didn't threaten me, she threaten Derek. She knows about me and Derek. She's just a psychotic bitch. There is still so much I don't know about and I think it might have something to do with her," Riley whispered the last part but she knew Scott could still hear her.

Scott looked confused. He was about to ask her about it when, "Scott, get on the field. Getting to play doesn't mean sitting on your ass anymore…I thought told you this is the players bench," the coach said.

Scott looked behind him, "Look there is a spot there," he pointed, "Just sit and don't leave without me, okay? We'll figure it out."

Riley watched Scott run onto the field. She moved to sit on the bleachers where Scott told her to. She watched the game without really watching the game. She just wanted to go home but then she didn't want to go home. She knew that once she saw Derek, she would ask him a question that she already knew the answer to. Was this what she signed up for? A life of secrets. Secrets being kept from her.

XXX

The game was finally over. The team won and they were going to State. The only thing Riley cared about was getting home but she had to still wait for Scott. She waited outside the locker for him. Of course he was taking forever. How hard was it to take off your uniform and put on regular clothes? Apparently for Scott it was very hard. Even Danny was done and out before him.

"Danny is Scott still in there?" she asked.

Danny gave her a weird look, "Yeah. He's the only one in there."

She rolled her eyes, "Does he at least have pants on?" Another weird look, "Never mind," she walked into the boys locker room, "Scott, how long does it take you to put on your damn lady make-up?"

He rounded a row of lockers with nothing but pants on, "You do realize that this is the boys' locker room."

"Do I look like I care?"

"No," he said, "And I don't wear make-up."

She walked further into the locker room, "Just finish already. I'm tired and I just want to go home."

She watched him grab some Axe spray when the lights went out and the entire room went almost dark, "Danny?" Scott called out.

"He already left," Riley said.

Scott grabbed her arm, "Stay close," he let go but she followed him as he looked around the locker room.

"Grab your shit and let's go," she whispered.

"Be quite," he whispered as he tried the light switch.

Nothing.

A lacrosse ball rolled straight into Riley's foot, catching her attention, "Scott?"

He looked and saw another one roll out of the shower room. He grabbed her hand and slowly walked over. He picked the ball up to exam it before walking to the entrance to the showers. There silently stood Derek in the dark. The little light coming from the windows cast creepy shadows on his features and all around the room.

Scott let go of Riley's hand as he step toward Derek. Riley didn't make any move to follow, "Thank God! Where the hell have you been? Do you have any idea what's been going on?" Scott asked.

Derek didn't respond. He didn't even look over at Riley. To her it looked like he was trying to distance himself. It reminded her of the way he acted when she saw him for the first time since before the fire. She didn't like it. And it was scaring her.

Derek looked to the left of Riley, "I really don't get lacrosse," a man said coming out of the shadows. He was holding a lacrosse stick.

Riley walked backward into the shower room to stand next to Scott, "Peter," she whispered.

"It was you," Scott whispered.

"When I played in high school, we played basketball," Peter said, looking up from the stick to look at Riley, "Now, that was a real sport," he looked at Scott, "Still, I read somewhere that lacrosse comes from Native American tribes and that they played it to resolve conflict," he swung the stick over his shoulder, "Do I have that right? Well," he placed the stick against the wall, "I have a little conflict of my own to resolve, Scott."

"Riley," Derek spoke up for the first time. She turned to look at him. He didn't even look at her as he spoke, "Go home."

She looked over at Scott and into his eyes, "Scott…" she whispered.

"I would listen to your…boyfriend, Riley," Peter said from his spot. She now looked at him as he spoke, "We have werewolf business to discuss. So run along home."

Riley looked at Scott and saw him nodding his head for her to go. She looked back at Derek who still wouldn't look at her, "Derek," she said. He still didn't respond.

For the last time she looked at Scott before making her way past Peter toward the exit.

Just as she passed Peter, he reached out a hand to grab her arm, "Be seeing you," he whispered.

XXX

Riley didn't remember her drive home. She barely remembered leaving the locker room to find her car. She numbly entered her home, walked into the kitchen and flipped on the lights. She ran her hands through her hair as she looked around the kitchen. She looked at the table and couldn't help but think that just this morning Derek and she were happy. She was still reeling over the buzz that Derek had bought her house from her mother. She wanted so badly to make this place their home. And now? She didn't know. Derek was still keeping her in the dark about things. And now, Peter is the Alpha. He is Derek's uncle. He is last part of his family. He is the one who killed Laura.

She attempted to make herself some tea to calm her nerves, but her nerves were causing her hands to shake too much. She managed to get the water on the stove when she heard a noise. She turned to find Derek standing in the doorway of the kitchen, just staring at her. Which didn't help with her nerves at all.

She decided to break the silence, "Derek, what is going on? I mean, Peter is the Alpha."

"Yes indeed sweetheart, I am," Peter said, stepping out of the shadows the second time tonight. Derek didn't move from the doorway to let him further into the kitchen, "Derek, I'm not going to hurt her. I promised I wouldn't." Derek sighed before moving out of the way. Peter stepped into the kitchen causing Riley to move back until she was against the sink, "What's the matter? Aren't you happy to see me? When you were little, you used to love for me to pick you up and spin around with you in the air. You used to laugh…"

"Why did you do it, Peter? Why did you kill Laura?" she asked.

Derek stared at her.

"Isn't it obvious? I wanted to be the Alpha. I wanted revenge for what happened to me…to us. I don't anymore, but I know you still bare the scars," Riley looked away, "Don't you want revenge?"

"Not if it means hurting people," she said.

"They're not innocent. That bitch deserves what's coming to her," Riley looked confused. He turned to Derek, "Did you not tell her the truth?"

"Tell me what?" she asked.

Derek didn't say anything, "She was the right to know who was responsible for the fire since it changed her life too," Peter said.

Riley looked at Derek sadly, "You knew. You knew this entire time."

"I didn't have to tell you anything. It wasn't any of your business," Derek said.

"Like hell it wasn't!" Riley shouted with tears in her eyes, "You don't know the hell I went through after the fire. The surgeries, the doctors, the years in the hospital, and you weren't there. You just disappeared and I had to deal with all that without my best friend."

Derek got angry, "Well, I think I lost more than."

"Now, now, kids. Don't need to get into a shouting match," Peter said.

Calmer, "Who was it?" she asked.

"I believe you've already met her, Kate Argent. And with the look on your face I believe you have," Peter said.

The tea kettle started to whistle but no body moved to shut the burner off. Riley just stood there taking in the new piece of information. Everything made since now. The things that Kate said to her. She knew exactly who Riley really was and she didn't care. Riley also figured out that Kate seduced Derek as a way in. Everything made since now. It wasn't their fault. Everything to this moment in time was because of one woman's hatred for werewolves.

Peter removed the kettle, "Almost like a dog whistle. Anyway, now you know everything."

"She was gloating about what she did. She practically through it in my face. About the fire. About being intimate with Derek. She's proud of what she did to us," Riley said.

"Don't you see now why I'm doing all of this?" Peter asked.

"I understand but I don't see why," she said.

Peter was silent for a few seconds, "Derek is going the same thing as I am. He's using the wrong method but it's the same thing." He went around the kitchen making himself some tea. When he was done, "There is one more thing I'd like to discuss. And this one thing involves the two of you," he looked at Derek, "Don't look surprised. You should have known this would be brought up."

"What?" she asked.

Peter looked at her over his tea cup, "How would you like the bite?"

"No," Derek shouted.

"The bite?" she asked.

"I'm sure you know werewolves are made. One bite and you become a member of the pack. My pack, of course," Peter said.

"You said you wouldn't hurt her," Derek said, stepping in front of Peter.

"I classify 'hurting' as killing. The bite won't kill her as long as her body accepts it," Peter explained, "Don't you truly want to be with her?"

Derek was quite before saying, "I can't make her make that choice."

"I can," Peter said, walking around him, "Do you want the bite?"

"I…I don't know," Riley said.

"It's either a 'yes' or 'no'," Peter said.

"I don't want it if it's coming from you," she whispered.

"If that's your choice," Peter said, turning to Derek, "You won't see each other anymore."

"What?" she asked.

"I can't have her as a distraction for you. It's either break up or I kill her," he said to Derek, "I'll give you a few minutes."

Peter left them alone.

"Derek," she said.

"I'm with Peter now. I'm part of the pack," Derek said.

"But why?" she asked.

"I don't have to explain anything to you," he said.

"He promised to help you get revenge on the hunters," he didn't say anything, "But aren't you forgetting that Peter killed your sister."

Derek lunged toward Riley and pushed her against the countertop. She tried and failed to push him away from her, "I'm with Peter because we're the same. You're just a human, its something you'll never understand," he watched tears slid down her face, "You may never understand but I wish you would," he said gentler, "He's family."

"I thought we were," she whispered.

Derek didn't say anything. He let her arms go before kissing her on the forehead. Then proceeded to walk out of the kitchen and out of her life.

Riley slid down to the floor. If she thought she felt numb earlier, she was wrong.

This is what numb feels like.

XXX

Derek and Peter were driving in Derek's car.

"Why didn't you want her to have the bite?" Peter asked as Derek was driving.

Derek didn't say anything.

"You really like to play the brooding type," Peter said, "If I gave her the bite, you two could truly be together. You guys would be happy."

"Who said I wasn't happy with her before?" Derek asked.

"Even when you guys were kids, I knew there was something special between you two. And know, I still see it. Even when it shouldn't be possible, it is," Peter said.

"What are you talking about?" Derek asked.

"I'm just rambling," Peter said.

"I do want her to have the bite," Derek said, "I just want her to want it as much as I do. Its something I could never force of her."

"Because you love her."

It wasn't a question, but Derek didn't answer.

He didn't know if he would know the answer.


	14. Acceptance

Chapter 14

Acceptance

"_You may never understand but I wish that you would. He's family."_

"_I thought we were."_

For Riley, the first night was the hardest. She would wake up alone, scared and sometimes screaming. The nightmares wouldn't stop. Nightmares about the fire, about the alpha, nightmares about everything. She would have nightmares about the fire all the time, but now they were different. She never told Derek that he kept those nightmares away. They stopped once he entered back into her life. And now, he'll never get to know.

Riley didn't have the strength to go to school, work or anything. She stayed in bed and hugged herself tightly, trying to give herself comfort, but the one thing she knew would make her better was gone.

She'd heard stories from other girls at school that breaking up with someone hurt. The first one always hurts the most. She hated that they were right. She hated Derek for doing this to here. For making her feel this way. She also hated herself for letting him go so easily without a fight.

Riley was heart broken…And it sucked.

XXX

Her phone had been ringing nonstop for almost an hour. She heard it going off for a while on her nightstand when it vibrated itself off and onto the floor. Where she can now hear it going off.

With minimal movement, she leaned down to get her phone. She saw it was Scott calling and leaving messages for her. She figured she better answer it before he decided to come barging into her house and break things in his path to see if she was still alive. She was surprised he hadn't already.

She pushed the button but didn't say anything.

"_Riley?"_ she heard Scott say, _"Oh God, you're hurt very badly and it took all of your strength to crawl over to answer the phone for help…And now you're dead."_

She couldn't help but roll her eyes, "I'm alive you dummy."

"_Thank God, I've been very worried since last night. I figured Derek wouldn't let Peter hurt you, but then you didn't answer any of my calls."_

"Derek is with Peter now…He wants nothing to do with me," she whispered.

"_What? I'll be right over," _he hung up.

Riley tossed the phone down at her feet and rolled over with the cover over her head.

Ten minutes later, Scott entered her bedroom, "Did you know that your front door was unlocked?" he asked and took another look at her, "You look terrible."

She sat up slowly, "Thanks, what a friend you are."

He sat down on the bed next to her, "What happened?"

"After I left the locker room, Peter and Derek showed up here. Don't worry nothing happened. There was just a lot of talking…Peter gave Derek the ultimatum; I accept the bite or he doesn't see me anymore. And to add more to that, if he refused…I would have been killed. He then proceeded to walk out my door and now I'm alone," she said.

"Hey," he said, "You're not alone. You still have me."

"No offense, but you have Allison…You wouldn't be enough," she said, "I was alone before Derek came back and now I'm alone again. Just like from the beginning, as if nothing changed."

"You still have Stiles," he said.

She turned to look at him and gave him a deadpan look, "Are you trying to make me feel worse?"

They laughed.

"It'll get better," he said, "Maybe it was for the best."

"I don't see how's that possible. I feel like apart of me is missing. Like I'll never be hole again," she started to cry.

Scott wrapped an arm around her and tensed for a second, like he sensed something, but let it slide to comfort her. She sobbed into his chest and whispered to her to try and calm her. It began to work after a while.

"Why do I feel this way?" she asked.

"I can't begin to understand what you're going through, but you'll get through this. And you're never be alone, I promise you. You'll always have me, Allison and even Stiles. We can be enough," he said. After a few more minutes, "You should consider taking a bath."

Riley pushed him away, "God Scott, sensitive much."

He couldn't help but laugh, which caused her to laugh with him. She leaned over to give him a kiss on the cheek. She looked back at him and they just stared at each other. She noticed he looked down at her lips and once his eyes looked back at her, she turned away.

Scott got up from the bed, "I'll see you later," he said.

"Yeah, I'll probably still be here sulking when you come by," she said before watching him leave.

Eventually she did get up to take a shower and after she was finished she felt a lot better. Better enough to even go down stairs to make herself something to eat. She didn't realize how hungry she was.

She couldn't help herself, but she started to feel numb again. She retreated back to her bed.

XXX

The second night, Derek stood over by her bed as she slept. She had no idea he was there, and that's the way he wanted. He didn't know if he could look at her sad eyes again. He saw the pain she was in and he wanted to make it go away. Even if he was the one who caused it.

He tried to stay away. He was successful the first night, but now he couldn't. He had to see her. He longed to see her again. He was keeping her safe, that's all that should matter. She'll understand one day, he hoped.

He reached down to move her hair from her face. Asleep, she looked peaceful and happy. He wanted so badly to wake her up and kiss her to make it all better, but he knew he couldn't.

Instead he leaned down to kiss her forehead. Once he did, he sensed something different about her. He didn't have time to figure it out because he was on a mission for the alpha.

He had to find Jackson.

XXX

Later that night, Riley was woken up by pounding on her front door. She pushed herself out of bed to see who it was this late at night.

She opened the door to see Allison standing on her porch soaking wet. She opened the door wider, "Come in, you must be freezing," Allison walked past her without saying anything. She noticed that she had been crying. She closed the door to follow her into the living room, "Are you okay?"

Allison turned on her heel, "I know about Derek," she said.

Riley was silent, "What about him?" she whispered.

Allison pushed her wet hair out of her face, "That he's a werewolf," Riley looked away, "And by the look on your face, you knew…Kate was right."

Riley looked back up, "Kate told you."

"I have someone who's not lying to me," Allison said.

"You have to understand why I couldn't tell you, Allison. You come from a long line of hunters. I was protecting him," she said.

"Because you're with him," Allison said, "Are you the other Beta?"

"No," she said.

"But you know who it is, and the alpha," Allison said.

"I only know about Derek," she said, "No one else."

Allison sighed, "Kate just dumped all this information on me and I don't know how to deal with it."

"That's because she's a bitch," she said.

"I just need someone to talk about this," Allison said, "Its so much to take in."

"You have me," she said.

Eventually, the girls sat down to talk.

XXX

The next morning, Riley woke up to the sound of her phone ringing in her pocket. She realized she felled asleep on the couch with Allison on the other side. She got up quietly without waking her up.

"Hello?"

"_Riley, I need you to come get me," _it was Scott.

"I'm a little busy."

"_Its important…I've been shot. I'm at the animal clinic."_

"I'll be right over," she said before hanging up.

She went up stairs to change and leave Allison a note, explaining she had an emergency.

She arrived at the animal clinic and saw Scott talking to Deaton, "Don't you own a shirt," she teased.

They both looked up at her.

"I'm glad you could come and get him," Deaton said, "He should be fine in a few hours."

Riley looked at him, "Of course, because it's not like it's a…bullet wound," she looked at Scott.

"He knows," Scott said.

"Oh," she said as she looked at Deaton, "Good for you, Doc," looking at Scott, "Shall we go."

"Riley," Deaton said as she looked at him, "Try to be careful,"

"Thanks, I will," she said slowly. Once in the car, "You get shot and go to the animal clinic…Its ironic."

"Not funny," Scott said.

"What happened?" she asked.

Scott explained what happened the night before with Jackson and Derek.

"Is he okay?" she asked.

"I'm sure he is," he said.

They were now at his house. As they got out of the car, Stiles pulled up, "We having a werewolf meeting?" he asked, trying to be funny.

"I hate to be the barer of more bad news but," Riley said, "Allison knows about Derek."

"She knows!" Scott said.

"Just about Derek," she said, "Not about you. She thought I was the other Beta."

Both boys laughed.

"It's not funny," she said. Stiles continued to laugh, "Shut up before I punch you," she said to him, "Kate let her in on the family secret."

"That's not what I need right now," Scott said, "That only gives Peter more fuel to go after her."

"Well, she's at my house," she said, "I think it'll be the last place Peter will look for a hunter."

"I hope you're right," he said.

"If it makes you feel better, I'll keep an eye on Allison. We are going dress shopping later for the dance," she said, "Oh and maybe you should know. Kate is the one who is responsible for the fire."

"And the plot thickens," Stiles said.

"Are you okay?" Scott asked.

"I'm fine now," she said, "It was a shock finding out, but now you know everything. I hate myself for lying to Allison because I was lied to."

"Lies can keep people safe," Scott said.

"Or it could get people killed," she said, "I better get back home. She might still be there."

Not known to Riley, Scott and Stiles went up to Scott's room to discuss that the Argents had kidnapped Derek. They couldn't tell Riley because they didn't know what she would have done.

Secrets can be necessary.

XXX

Riley drove her and Allison to the mall later that day, "Are you sure Lydia has to join us?" she complained.

"She's buying my dress as an apology," Allison explained.

"She can buy my dress," Riley said, getting out of the car.

"I know you don't like her but I want to go dress shopping with my two best friends," Allison said.

"Fine," she said, "I'll be nice…for like an hour."

"Thank you," Allison said as they spotted Lydia, "Lydia."

They walked over to Lydia's car, "What is she doing here?" Lydia asked.

Riley turned to Allison, "Only if she's nice to me."

During their shopping trip they ran into Stiles, which Riley figured probably wasn't by mistake. Lydia was off shopping with Stiles, since he would be the one taking her to the dance. Leaving Riley alone with Allison.

Riley turned her back on her for a few minutes while she looked for a dress. When she turned around she saw Peter talking with her. She grabbed a dress and walked quickly over to them.

"Allison," she said, getting their attention, "Go try on this dress. I think you'll like and it's expensive."

Allison took the dress, "I don't think this will fit me."

"You're never going to know if you don't try," she said. They watched Allison walk toward the fitting room. She turned back to face Peter, "What do you want?"

"I wanted to meet the famous Allison," he said, "The girl Scott is in love with. She might make a nice addition."

Riley stared at him, "What happened to you?" she asked, "You were never like this."

"People change when they loose so much. They become damaged," he said, "That Peter is no longer with us."

He started to walk away from Riley, "I wish that he was," she said as he stopped, "Because he was a great person."

He left without saying another word.

Riley got really light headed and swayed on the spot. Scott came out of nowhere to steady her, "What are you doing here?" she asked him.

"I followed Peter here," he said, "Are you okay?"

"Yeah, I just got dizzy," she said.

"When was the last time you ate?" he asked.

"Yesterday," she replied. Scott made a face, "You shouldn't be here. Allison might see you."

"Alright. Just tell Allison you need to get something to eat before continuing shopping," he said.

"Alright dad," she said sarcastically.

By the end of the afternoon, all three girls found dresses for the dance on Friday. Riley wanted to go with Derek but that would never happen, even if he wasn't a wanted werewolf fugitive. She was really happy with her choice. Her dress was a nice dark purple that even covered her scars on her back. Lydia even helped her pick her dress, out of the goodness of her nonexistent heart.

XXX

Kate Argent wasn't having any luck of getting information from the captured werewolf, Derek. He wasn't talking even though she was running thousand bolts through his entire body to keep him from shifting and making him weak.

"Come on Derek, I don't want to torture you," Kate said, "I want to catch up. It's been years since I've seen you. Might even say that I missed you. I would have called you up but you have a new girlfriend. She is very spunky and pretty. I see why you keep her as company."

Derek growled, "Don't talk about her!"

"I see that she is a sore subject," she said, "Let's try something else…Remember all the fun we had together?"

"Like the time you burned my family alive," he said.

"I didn't get all your family. She is still alive and kicking," she said, "And no, I was thinking more about the hot, crazy sex we had. Is Riley as good as me? Does she know how to make your body quiver?"

"Don't you dare say her name!" he shouted, "She is nothing like you."

Kate smiled, "My, my, Derek are you in love?" she asked, "You are," looking at his face, "You don't hide it very well. That piece of information might just cost you. It's almost like repeating history. Once again, you're helping me track down the rest of your pack just like before. Your girlfriend got hurt in the fire all of those years ago, because of you. And I'm going to hurt her even worse this time, because…of…you."

Derek wasn't the type of guy to show fear in these types of situations, but when it came to Riley he couldn't help it.

XXX

For the dance, Stiles was going with Lydia, which was weird, Allison was going with Jackson, which words could not explain why, and Riley got talked into going with Scott, which was completely weird. Even though Scott wasn't supposed to be at the dance, he still had to go to keep an eye on Allison. His only option was to take Riley and hope that he didn't get caught.

Riley drove over to Scott's house to pick him up. She rang the door bell and his mom answered, "You're not Allison," she said.

"No, I'm not," Riley said, watching Scott running down the stairs, "Don't you tell your mom anything."

Both women looked at Scott, "I tell her things…sometimes."

"I want to get some pictures," his mom said.

"Mom," Scott complained.

"Its fine, Mrs. McCall," Riley said, taking Scott's hand, "We have time."

They finally got to the dance, "Do you want to dance?" Scott asked.

"Not really," she said, "Go fine Allison. It's okay."

"I should at least give my date the first dance," he said, extending his arm to her.

Riley rolled her eyes before accepting.

They danced one song together, "Go find Allison," Riley said, "I know you want to."

"You sure?" he asked.

"I'll be fine," she said.

Scott kissed her on the cheek, "Thank you."

She watched him run off to find Allison. She made her way over to an empty table. There was someone sitting there already. She couldn't think of his name, "Can I sit here?" she asked.

"Sure," he said, "I was just leaving."

She watched him walk away as she remembered his name Isaac; he was on the team with Scott.

After a while, "Why is a girl like you just sitting her all alone?" Peter asked, standing beside her, "You should be out there dancing," he extended his hand, "You don't get a choice on this one."

Riley takes his hand and lets him pull her out on the dance floor. She searches for Scott and sees him dancing with Allison. She catches his eye just as she and Peter begin to dance to a slow song.

Peter holds her tight, "This is nice," he whispers to her.

"Oh yeah, I'm having a great time," she said sarcastically, "What's on the evil agenda tonight?"

"Can't I be here enjoying a dance with you?" he asked. She doesn't answer, "I'm looking for a few good men for my pack…or women. Do you have any recommendations for me? What about that tall one?" he pointed. She looked at saw he was pointing at Isaac, "There is still you. You want to reconsider my offer? Though, we would have to wait a while on you."

"Why do you need more members?" she asked, "What's wrong with just Derek?"

"He's a bit preoccupied with the Argents," she looked at him confused, "Oh, didn't Scott tell you?" he asked.

"No," she whispered, "Tell me what?"

"Derek is behind enemy lines," he looked over at Scott, who was listening, "And I need Scott's help to get him back." Riley tried to step away from Peter, "Don't worry," he said, "I'll get him back." He held tighter on to her and pulled down on her dress around her neck to reveal her burn scars on her left shoulder, "What a pity? You have far too pretty skin to be plagued by scars," he started to lean down toward her shoulder, "Relax," he told her after she started to panic. He kissed her scar tissue very softly. He looked back at her, "Enjoy the rest of your dance."

Peter left her standing there on the dance floor. She looked over at Scott who shared the same look of terror. She stumbled from the dance into the hallway with Scott following closely behind.

"What was that?" Scott asked.

"You think I know," she said, "You should be with Allison. Peter is still around here. Why didn't you tell me Derek was missing?" she asked, angrily.

"I'm sorry," he said, "If you knew, you would only be getting yourself hurt. Don't try to deny it; I know that you would go after him."

"Someone has to," she said.

"Guys!" Stiles called, running up to them, "Have you seen Lydia?"

"Go look down at the make-out staircase," Riley said annoyed, "She's probably with Jackson."

"No, I just say him a minute ago," Stiles said, "He went out looking for the alpha and got caught by hunters."

"Great," Scott said.

"Stiles," Riley said, seriously, "Peter is here."

Stiles looked worried, "I have to find her."

"I can't help you and keep an eye on Allison," Scott said, looking around.

"Go back to the dance," she said, "I'll help him look for Lydia."

"Be careful you two," Scott said before leaving them.

Stiles and Riley took off, "Let's start at the lacrosse field. Jackson said Allison's dad was behind the school."

Riley stopped him, "Allison's dad is here. Why didn't you say anything to Scott?"

"I didn't want to worry him anymore than he already is," Stiles said, "We have to go."

Riley followed him outside. The headed toward the field when they saw the stand lights switch on. They started to run toward the lights.

"Lydia!" Stiles yelled as soon as they could see her standing in the middle of the field.

Riley could see Peter approaching the girl, "No!" she screamed as she ran faster.

It was too late. Peter had attacked Lydia right before their eyes. As Stiles and Riley got closer, you could see a lot of blood that could only come from a bite. Peter hovered over Lydia.

"Don't kill her," Stiles begged as she slowly approached.

Peter looked at Riley and then back to Stiles, "Of course not. Just tell me how to find Derek."

"What?" Stiles asked confused. He couldn't keep his eyes off of Lydia's bloody body, "I don't know that. How would I know that?"

"Peter please," Riley spoke up, "If you can't find Derek, how do you expect Stiles to do it?"

"Because he's the clever on out of the bunch," Peter said.

"I don't know," Stiles said again.

"Tell me!" Peter shouted.

"Alright, alright, I think Derek knew the hunters were going to take him so he took Scott's phones. All phones have GPS now," Stiles explained.

"So you can find him?" Peter asked.

"Yes," Stiles whispered.

"Good. Let's go," Peter said before getting up.

"No, I'm not just letting you leave her here," Stiles said.

"You don't have a choice, Stiles. You're coming with me," Peter said.

"She needs to go to the hospital," Riley said.

"I don't care anymore," Stiles said, "Just kill me."

Peter pulled Stiles up, "Riley is here to look after her," he said. Stiles turned to look at Riley, "Don't keep me waiting," Peter said.

"Stiles," Riley said, reaching out for him, "Its okay, I got her."

With one last look at Lydia, Stiles followed Peter off of the field.

Riley kneeled down beside Lydia, and checked that she was still breathing. She got out her phone to call Scott and applied pressure to the bite with one hand, "Scott, come on!" she cried into the phone. He didn't answer. She dialed 9-1-1 and then waited for them to show.

"What's going on?" Jackson asked, running to her.

"She was attacked by an animal," she said. Jackson bent down to pick Lydia up, "I've already called 9-1-1. They're coming!"

"She can't wait for them," Jackson yelled as he took off toward the parking lot.

Riley followed him and drove to the hospital in her car. Lydia was admitted and they waited to here from the doctor. The police were called. Riley and Jackson were each questioned separately.

She watched as Sheriff Stilinski walked into the waiting room and pushed Jackson against a wall, "What happed to that girl?"

"I don't know. I went out looking for her…" Jackson stammered.

"You just happened to wander into the middle of that field and you just found her like that?" the Sheriff asked.

"No sir," Riley spoke up walking to them, "I found her like that. I saw…I saw an animal running away from her when I was approaching. She was attacked by an animal."

"You sure?" he asked.

"I know what I saw," she said.

"You two should go home," the Sheriff said.

"I'm not going anywhere," Jackson said before the Sheriff walked away to talk to a doctor.

Riley looked at Jackson before he spoke, "You can go home. I know you don't like Lydia," he said, "I called Allison she should be here soon."

"She's not half bad," she said, "She even helped me pick out this dress."

Jackson looked at her, "It looks good on you."

"Thank you," she said, "She'll be okay."

He didn't say anything as she turned to walk away.

XXX

"Thank you for taking me to see her before we leave," Allison said to her aunt, "I just wan to see if Lydia is okay."

"It's not a problem," Kate said, "I know she's a friend. Be out in 15 minutes. I'm going to find a parking spot."

Allison got out before Kate drove off from the emergency entrance. Kate was driving around to find a spot at the visitor's lot when she spotted Riley. Kate sneered at the girl and gripped the steering wheel tightly. She looked around and saw no one was in sight before she stepped on the gas and drove the SUV straight into Riley.

Riley didn't have a chance to get out of the way. She didn't even see the car coming before it was too late.

XXX

Scott had found Derek before the alpha could, that why Derek was with him when he got the phone call from Stiles that Riley was in the hospital because someone ran her over in the parking lot at the hospital.

Derek stood outside Riley hospital room, looking at her through the window. He was listening to the doctor talk Scott and his mom.

It was bad. She was in a coma…and she might not wake up.

"She's stable for now," the doctor said, "All we can do now is wait. I have a nurse trying to reach her mother."

"Anything else Dr. Smith?" Mrs. McCall asked.

The doctor looked Riley through the window, "She might not have known but when we took her to X-Ray we noticed a separate image was captured…She was pregnant," Derek turned to look at the doctor, "As I said before, she might not have known. It was still to earlier in the pregnancy."

"Thank you," Mrs. McCall said before he walked away, "I'm going to see if they reached her mom yet."

"Derek?" Scott whispered.

Derek stood there not moving or acknowledging anything, "Leave," he finally said.

Scott watched Derek walk into Riley's room and sit by the bed before he left to find his mom.

Derek took Riley's hand in his own and looked up at her cut up face. He couldn't say anything for a while, "I'm sorry…I'm sorry I couldn't protect you. I should have been there," he almost cried, "Kate has taken so much from us…our baby was the last thing. I'm going to make this right, I promise you…You might not understand at first but you will in time. I'm going to fix you," he whispered the last part, "I love you."

XXX

Kate was dead. She died by the hand of the alpha, but before that happened that truth came out about what she did six years ago and what she did that night.

Now Derek stood over the burned body of his uncle. He was about to give the final fatal blow.

"Wait!" Scott shouted, "If you do this, I won't turn back."

Peter coughed, "Before you end this, Derek, you need to know. Before I came here I visited Riley in the hospital," Derek looked shocked, "She would never forgive you if the bite came directly from you…Now you can finish it."

"Derek!" Scott said.

"I'm sorry Scott," Derek said before he slashed Peter's throat. He stood back away from Peter and looked back at Scott with red glowing eyes, "I'm the alpha now."

XXX

Derek returned to the hospital after he killed his uncle. He sat down in the same chair from earlier, he took a deep breath as he lifted Riley's hospital gown to reveal the fresh bite mark on her right side. He sighed as he put back the gown and leaned back into his chair.

Derek stayed in the hospital all night until the next morning when Scott and Stiles came to visit Riley.

"Lydia's bite hasn't healed," Stiles said.

"Has Riley's healed?" Scott asked.

Derek looked up at Scott from his spot, "See for yourself," he said as he pointed. Scott walked over and pulled back her cover and lifted her gown. He saw perfect unmarked skin, "She accepted it," Derek whispered.

**A/N: I can't believe I did it! I finally finished season 1! I hope you all enjoyed reading this chapter. I worked so hard on it. I will continue with season two shortly. Thank you for reading and sticking with end until the end. I won't create a new story for season 2, it'll be an add on to this one.**

**Please review...**


	15. Waking Up

**A/N: I'm sorry it took me forever to update. I think you're going to like this one. Other than I really enjoyed writing it but it contains flashbacks of when Derek and Riley were younger.**

Chapter 15

Waking Up

_Green eyes…_

_Green eyes…_

_It was the only thing Riley could see...green eyes. It was the only thing she wanted to see._

_The only thing in a darkened room was a bed with two occupants with nothing between them but skin. Riley looked into the face of the person who owned those beautiful green eyes. Derek…Her Derek. With her on top, there was no way for him to get away from her again. She couldn't allow that to happen again._

_She looked into the face of her lover; the person she loved and saw say that he felt the same for her._

"_Mine," she whispered before her vision began to blur from pure ecstasy._

_When she opened them again, she found herself in a sitting position looking out onto a lacrosse field which was occupied by two playing teams._

"_GO JACKSON!" she heard from her left side._

_She turned her head to see that it was Lydia, sitting down from her, cheering for Jackson._

_Riley looked around and realized there was only two other people in the stand. One was Lydia and the other was facing away from her three rows ahead. As if the person knew they were being watched, they turned around revealing themselves. _

_Laura was looking back, "It's alright," she said, "One day, none of this would have mattered. Everything can go back to normal and you can go on with your life."_

_To Riley, what Laura said sounded familiar. Like it was all said before…six years ago in a hospital room with a young damaged girl._

"_And if it can't?" Riley whispered._

_The older girl smiled at her, "You have him now. He'll watch over you."_

_She looked out onto the field and saw Derek standing in the middle of it, alone. She stood up quickly, wanting to reach him but then he disappeared and the scene changed back to the lacrosse game. She searched for him before sitting back down. She looked beside her into the face of Peter Hale._

…

Derek sat by Riley's hospital bed. He had been there beside her since that night when everything went down. Nothing could keep him away. Not even when the nurses would kick him at night. He would wait a while before doubling back to her room. Nothing was keeping him away from her.

Riley accepted the bite, but that didn't mean she was going to heal over night. Her body was destroyed to the point of no repair. Her healing process was going to take some time.

Scott and Stiles would come visit her but most days it was just the lone wolf visiting his friend and co-worker. He would tell Derek that his mom would come home from her shift at the hospital, and say that Riley's doctor was baffled at how she was healing quickly, when she shouldn't be healing at all. Nothing explained it. It was a medical miracle.

On more that one occasion, Derek thought about breaking her out of the hospital. He didn't want anyone finding out or doing tests on her to figure out why she was healing. On one occasion, he actually did try to break for it. He had her all bundled up in his arms when Scott's mom walked in and stopped him. She threatened to call security and restrict him from visiting but she knew that would stop him from seeing her, she could tell he cared so much for her. So she said if he tried that again she would call security.

Most nights Derek spent his time lying next to her on the bed. He would hold her and whisper comforting thoughts to her. And even sometimes, beg her to wake up.

…

'_Baby, I love you.'_

'_Everything is going to be alright. She can never hurt you again.'_

'_I promise you, we can try again.'_

'_Please wake up.'_

…

_**Eighteen years ago**_

"_You're new here," Jennifer Goodwin said to a woman carrying a small boy._

"_Yes, my husband and brother-in-law just moved here a few weeks ago. My daughter has been bugging me to take her to the park, but we had so much to do," the woman said, "I'm Sarah Hale." (_**I don't know if Derek's parents' names were actually mentioned in the show, so I made them up. Sorry if they were.)**

"_It's a really safe park," Jennifer said, pushing a baby stroller._

_Sarah saw the baby, "How old is she?"_

"_She just turned one," Jennifer answered, "I take her on walks when I can. She loves the sunshine."_

"_I remember when mine were that age. My oldest, Laura, is eight. And this is Derek, he's four," at the sound of his name, he struggled to be let down, "I want you to play where I can see…" the young boy didn't run off to play, he walked over to the stroller and peaked in, "Be careful, sweetie, you don't want to scare her," she said, standing over him._

_Little Derek looked down into the stroller at the sleeping baby, "What hers name?" he asked._

_Jennifer bend down next to Derek to look at her daughter, "Her name is Riley."_

"_That a boys name," he laughed._

_Jennifer chuckled, "That's what I told my husband."_

_Baby Riley stirred from her sleep and started to bounce her arms up and down with a smile on her face, "She smiles at me," the boy said._

"_She must like you," Jennifer said, "She just doesn't smile at anyone."_

"_Really?" the young boy looked so happy._

"_Derek, look who's here?" Sarah asked._

_The boy looked, "Uncle Peter!" he ran to the man._

_The man picked up his nephew as he ran to him, "Who do we have here?" he asked, walking over to the group._

"_That Riley," the boy said, "She likes me…And I like her."_

…

A couple of days after everything that happened, Scott and Allison walked in Riley's room to visit her. Allison wanted to see her but didn't think Derek would let her, so she asked Scott to come with her.

"How is she?" Allison asked Derek who was looking out the window in the room.

He turned to face her, "How do you think?" he asked sarcastically.

Scott took a step forward, "It's not Allison's fault for what Kate did. She feels bad for what happened," he said.

"Oh, really?" Derek asked.

"Riley is my friend," Allison spoke for herself, "I would never want her to be hurt like this."

"What about your dad?" he asked.

Allison didn't know what to say. Scott told her that Riley had been bitten by Peter, but only because she would have died if she didn't, "I haven't spoken to my father in a few days, not since the other night."

Derek stepped away from the bed and nodded for Allison to come forward. She took a seat in the chair that Derek uses.

Derek walked over to stand next to Scott, "Are you going to tell her when she wakes up? That she was pregnant."

Derek sighed, "I have to Scott, and I can't keep something like that from her."

"You think she'll be okay, being a werewolf?"

"We never talked about it. Peter asked her if she wanted the bite but she turned it down. That was under different circumstances, but now I don't know how she will take it. She didn't have a choice this way. It was forced on her," Derek said.

"But she could have died," Scott said.

"I know…She still didn't have a choice," Derek said.

"If Peter didn't do it, would you have chosen for her?" Scott asked.

Derek glared at the younger wolf, "I think you should take your girlfriend and go."

_**Riley is 5**_

_**Derek is 8**_

_Derek's parents were watching five year old Riley while her parents were out of town for a few days. The little girl was at the age were she liked to cling to people or follow them around. While staying at the Hale house, day and night, she wouldn't leave an eight year old Derek alone. _

"_Will you just go play with your dolls?" Derek asked irritated as he was being followed outside._

"_No, I already played with my dolls with Uncle Peter," Riley said._

"_He's not your uncle," the boy said. They were now standing under a tree next to the house, "I don't know why you call him that."_

"_He said I could. I don't have anyone to call uncle," she said._

"_You mean your parents didn't have any brothers," he said._

_She shrugged her shoulders, "I don't know."_

_He sighed, "You're unbelievable."_

"_I know," she said as she reached out to take his hand, "Let's play hide and seek."_

"_When you can't find me, you cheat by getting Peter to help you," he said._

"_Please."_

_He let go of the girl's hand, "I don't want to play today," and then continues walking._

_The little girl tried to keep but tripped over a rock and fell to the ground, scrapping her knees. She began to cry loudly._

_Derek goes to her and kneels beside her, "Riley, its okay," he reaches to touch her shoulder, "Don't cry, please. I'll play with you."_

"_What happened?" Peter asked, running over to them._

"_She fell," Derek answered, "I think she hurt her knees."_

"_Well, let's take a look," Peter said before bending down to their level, "There, there, darling. Can you show me where it hurts?" Little Riley did, "Let's go get you cleaned up. Then I think its time for a nap. Derek can read to you until you fall asleep. Will you like that?"_

_Riley nodded and then Peter picked up the little girl to carry her inside._

…

Day five and Riley still hadn't woken up. She laid in the bed peacefully as if she was sleeping.

When Scott's mom is on call, she makes sure to bring Derek something to eat from the kitchen. He was very grateful because he didn't like leaving her side. But tonight, she wasn't on call.

He made a quick trip to the kitchen to grab something before it closed for the day. He was heading back to the room when he smelled it. More like someone in Riley's room. He ran back to see that Chris Argent was standing at the feet of the bed, looking at her peaceful form.

The hunter didn't say anything as Derek made his way into the room to stand beside the bed. Both men had their arms crossed.

"I had to come see for myself," Chris said, "Allison wouldn't tell me anything."

"There's nothing to tell that concerns you," Derek said.

Chris walked around to stand on the opposite of Derek, "The outside of her body has healed from the…accident," Derek growled, "But the inside is taking longer to heal. The first sign of someone accepting a werewolf bite is that their body becomes good as new."

"I wasn't the one to give her the bite."

Chris chuckled, "Your uncle gave it to her. Man, that must have been awkward."

"What do you want, Chris?"

The hunter sighed, "I know that Riley didn't choose this life for herself. What was done to her, she didn't have any kind of control over it. She would have died if nothing was done. I came to tell you, I recognize that. No harm will come to her by my hand."

"How very werewolf hunter of you," Derek said sarcastically.

"No, I guess not. She Allison's friend and from the few times I spoken to her, I could tell she was a smart girl; maybe not so smart since she got involved with you. You should consider, after she wakes up, leaving town for good. Start somewhere else new," Chris suggested, "I may not hunt her down, but someone else would."

"Is that a threat?"

"It's a warning," Chris said, "Just like with my sister, I can't control everyone," looking down at Riley, "Take care of her, alright."

Derek nodded his head and waited until he was left alone before lying down beside Riley, his food was long forgotten.

"I think it's cute that you're taking your time to wake but I need you. I want to see your beautiful blue eyes again. I want you to talk to me; I'll even take you being mad at me. Just wake up, okay?" he gave her a kiss on the lips, "I miss you so damn much."

…

**Riley is 13**

**Derek is 16**

**A few weeks before the fire**

_The young teenagers, Riley and Derek, were hanging out in Derek's room one afternoon playing a video game._

"_What's it like to kiss?"_

_Derek paused the game to look at Riley, "What?"_

"_What's it like to kiss?" she asked again, "I think it's a little gross but people seem to do it all the time on TV, so it shouldn't be so bad."_

"_You're too young to worry about it," he said._

_Riley sat down beside Derek on the floor, "But I want to know. I should at least be prepared when it happens for the first time. Have you ever kissed anyone?"_

"_I have."_

"_And?" she asked, a little annoyed._

"_You just kiss people. It's something you can't be prepared for. It's almost instinct," he explained, getting a dreamy look in his eyes, "It makes you want to be with someone forever."_

_Riley got a look on her face, "Who have you been kissing?"_

_He looked back at her, "Its something you won't understand until you experience it," he went back to his game._

"_Well, will you kiss me?"_

_Derek dropped the video game remote before risking a glance at Riley._

_She saw the look in his eyes, "Never mind. You don't have to."_

_She started to get up when he stopped her, "Riley, wait. I didn't mean to have that look on my face. You just surprised me," he sighed, "You're my best friend and I want your first kiss to be with someone you really cares about you, but I also want you to kiss someone that you really like. I don't want to take that from you," he leaned in to kiss her on the cheek._

_She smiled weakly at him because he didn't know the truth about how she felt, "Okay."_

…

Melissa McCall stood outside room 211, Riley's room, watching the young man who refuses to leave, "I see you everyday sitting or standing by her. I don't think I've seen you leave, which explains the same clothes you wear. I think its sweet and I can tell you really care for her. That's why I will give you one hour to leave and come back with new clothes and hope that you also showered during that time."

After taking one look at her, he leaned down to kiss Riley's forehead and grabbed his leather jacket to leave but he stopped at the door, "Your son is a very good friend. You raised him well."

"Thank you," Melissa said before Derek left.

…

_Riley found herself sitting in the bleachers at a lacrosse game. She could hear something off in the distance. It was faint but still could be heard. It was a sound of a baby crying. She turned her head into the night, expecting to hear it again but it never was._

_She felt her right hand being squeezed. She slightly turned her head to see who it was and realized she was looking at Peter. She just stared at him. She wasn't afraid of him anymore._

"_There, there, darling," Peter said while stroking her cheek with his free hand, "Even if I were to ask, you wouldn't help me," she looked confused, "I was the one to give you the bite, but your loyalty will be elsewhere."_

_He then proceeded to tilt his head toward the field. She followed and saw the lacrosse field was now empty expect for a figure making his way across the field toward them._

_It was Derek._

_The bleachers she was sitting on were no longer there as she stood a few feet away from Derek in the middle of the lacrosse field. He stood there staring at her, waiting for her to make a move._

_She didn't hesitate as she took one step toward her wolf._

…

It has been a week since Kate Argent ran her over with a SUV. For Derek, it has been a very long week. During that time, Riley's parents didn't come to visit her. Derek knew that she was sadly but truly alone, just like him.

Derek developed the skill of patience from all the years of planning and thinking about his revenge. He would wait forever if he had too. She was worth it.

"Mmmm," he heard coming from the bed.

He turned and saw movement coming from the bed, "Riley," he whispered.

"Mmmm," he heard again this time with eyes fluttering open.

"Nurse!" he yelled, afraid to leave her side, "Nurse!" He stroked her cheek before running to the open door, "Melissa!"

He ran back to her and watched her eyes open more and watched the recognition on her face of seeing him.

Riley weakly reached out for him, "Derek," she crocked out. Her muscles were weak from lying in bed for a week.

He took her hand and kissed it, "It's me," he said, happily.


	16. AN: Beta

**If anyone is interested, I need a Beta. I had one but it didn't work out and I really need one. My grammar sucks and I don't take the time to proof read and review everything before posting. You don't have to tell me, I know about the mistakes. I'd like someone I can run ideas by on all current stories and future stories. Someone who isn't afraid to tell me…that sucked. If you or if you know of any Betas, please let me know or pass me onto them. I really need the help.**

**Thank you**


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